Even Angels Fall
by K.E.Nuss
Summary: Sasuke is desperate to get to his brother, but when he uses Naruto as bait, someone else comes in his place. A Jutsu is cast on Naruto, he becomes a murderer. Will Sasuke help Sakura to save him? Or will they let an angel fall? NaruSakuSasu
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"I've been experimenting with a new Jutsu." He said. "It's powerful, and it will help with the extraction of the Kyuubi from the jinchuuriki Uzumaki Naruto."

"_Take it if you want it; get it out of me," _

"Really now, what does it do exactly?" A man whose appearance was hidden by the shadows of the cave spoke with a hint of interest in his voice.

"It will turn him; make him willing to release he Kyuubi back into the world. He will have no regards for the lives of anyone, merely himself, and if we use a Jutsu that will not kill him when extracting he Kyuubi, he will welcome us with open arms. His heart will become chilled."

"_Poor little girl, you're scared aren't you?"_

"_Y-yes," he laughed at her tears._

"_Do you want to not be afraid?"_

"_Y-yes,"_

"_You want to know the secret to fearlessness?" she nodded "Death," Blood spattered across the snow and a muffled scream echoed._

"Hm, sounds interesting, But how can we be sure it won't back fire, that he won't want the Kyuubi's power for himself?" the man asked, lacing his fingers under his chin.

"This Jutsu will make him a soulless person, one who revels in destruction and death. But, it also will make him a tool, he will do whatever the owner of the Jutsu tells him, as long as he can keep his life and keep taking others. He will be under my control." Sasori stepped forward. "Like a puppet on strings."

"_Tell me, when do I get to start killing? I want to see blood, red blood,"_

"_Soon, be patient,"_

"_Hai, Sasori-sama," he smirked. "But it better be soon,"_

"Sasori-san, I'm impressed. Well, Kisame-san and Itachi-san might not be happy with this." He smirked, his white teeth gleaming. "However, if you can promise me such a thing, then you and Deidara-san will take the Kyuubi. Give them the message."

"Arigatou, Leader-sama," Sasori nodded his head and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Sasori, should this fail, and you are killed, I won't be so kind as to bring you back this time." He smirked, opening his eyes.

Sasori felt them burn an impression in his back. "Hai, Leader-sama,"

"_This snow, it's to white, it needs a new color, like, red. Now, who's going to help me paint a picture in the snow? Any volunteers…no? Then you can all help me paint. What do you think it's a picture of? Anyone want to guess?" he knelt down and cupped the chin of a boy his own age. "You've seen someone paint this picture before, do you know what it's a picture of?" the other boy gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as hot tears burned them. "Come on, tell us,"_

"_Death," tears rolled down the boys cheeks and he laughed._

"_Say it again, I don't think everyone heard you,"_

"_DEATH!"_


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: alright, so there isn't much plot in this chapter, but please just bare with me, even so I hope you don't find it to boring.

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Yes, I wish I owned Naruto. But no, I do not…sigh****

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"Oi, Sakura-chan," Naruto turned his head to face his pink-haired companion. The both of them were clad in standard ANBU clothing and black cloaks. She faced him with her kitten mask. "How far is it until we reach the border?" 

"Not far, Naruto." She answered. He nodded and his fox mask jostled slightly with the movement. A gust of wind blew and the hair of the two ANBU shinobi flowed gently. His hair was quite a bit longer then when he first met Sakura. He looked more and more like his father every day. Sakura had kept her hair short however, and tied it in a three inch braid at the nape of her neck.

The pair were in the country of Fire, though fire was the least of their sights. It was pouring rain, and had been since they arrived at their halfway point from Konoha.

"So, do you think the rumors were accurate?" Naruto asked. "Do you think he's really on the border of Grass?"

"Somehow, I think he is, Naruto. There have been Akatsuki movements in that area, another jinchuriki was taken." She said. She pulled her cloak more tightly around her as they walked. "Naruto,"

"Hm?"

"Do, do you think we'll bring him home this time?" she looked to him. Even through the small slits in her mask, he could still see the shining emeralds that were her eyes.

"Yea, I think we will." He smiled, though no one could see it.

Over the two year period since they last encountered their missing-nin comrade, they'd grown in strength, Naruto, especially. He had worked with Sakura, and with her knowledge in medical ninjutsu, had found a way around the severe injury his forbidden jutsu, the Rasen-Shuriken, brought him. Now, he could use it at will, though it was a huge chakra drain for him.

"Uh, Sakura-chan-"he was cut off when she put a finger to the lips of her mask.

Her hands moved in a sign language that had become second nature to both of them.

'Mask your chakra, and be quiet, I can sense him.'

Naruto did so.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, I lost the chakra signatures," Karin whispered, trying to concentrate from beneath her gray rain-cloak. 

"It's no problem," he spoke back. Juugo and Suigetsu exchanged glances. Team Hebi continued through the trees. Sasuke blinked and his dark eyes became crimson.

* * *

Naruto's own hands moved swiftly. 'Sakura-chan, We weren't expecting to see anyone until tomorrow, we're both still low on chakra since our fight with the rogue Grass shinobi earlier,' Their original mission had been to take out a group of missing-nin from Grass before they went any further into Fire. Earlier that day, said mission had been completed, the shinobi had been fair opponents, but the two ANBU had won the battle, they were now buried in a row under two oak trees. 

_Naruto and Sakura each carried three shinobi bodies to a sheltered spot under two great oaks. Right in a row, the corpses were set down gently, and hands conformed in specific patters before touching the foreheads of the shinobi, extracting information that could be useful to Konoha. "Should we burry them?" Naruto questioned._

"_Hai, even they deserve to be given proper burials." Sakura stated softly._

'I know, but if we let him go now we might lose him forever,' she replied. 'Let's get him quickly, and we'll take back the other three as prisoners.'

…

…

…

'Hai'

* * *

Sasuke looked ahead, his vision blurred by the rain that poured. Droplets of water caught in his eyelashes caused him to blink. In the moment his eyes were closed, a sound graced his ears. His eyelids shot back to their open position and his vision searched for the source of the sound. To shadows were closing in on him from either side. He blinked again and in front of him the two shadows had stopped, on a branch in the trees ahead of him. 

His abrupt stop surprised his comrades however they did not falter. Suigetsu glanced at the two figures ahead of them, and then at Karin's face, it was shocked. She didn't sense the two of them. When they masked their chakra, they couldn't have been more than a few yards away, they were stronger then she remembered.

"Uchiha Sasuke." The man behind the fox mask uttered his name with little hesitation.

Sasuke knew who the shadows were, however, he wouldn't believe it. They were all alone, and they were in ANBU uniforms. The ones he knew were too weak to be of ANBU caliber. The thought of it was a joke.

"It looks as though he doesn't recognize us, Sakura-chan," Naruto spoke with a monotone, determined to hide any signs of weakness in his voice.

"Or he doesn't believe we could possibly be ANBU, after all, we used to be pretty insignificant, ne?"

Naruto grabbed a handful of his cloak and ripped it from his shoulders, tossing to the ground. The rain felt cold on his bare upper arms. His forearms were covered with elbow high fingerless gloves. Sakura untied the string that held the cloak around her neck. Her well muscled arms and shoulders glistened from the rain. Simultaneously, as if planned for dramatic effect, the two removed their masks and smashed Sasuke's doubts to pieces.

"Naruto, Sakura," he said. A smirk graced his lips. "It looks like Tsunade is getting desperate in her old age, to promote you two to ANBU."

"So, tell me Sasuke, have you killed Itachi yet? It's been how many years since you left," she counted on her fingers. "Ah, that's right, four years. It appears as though you're still to weak, ne?"

"Now Sakura-chan, don't be to mean to poor little Sasuke-chan," Naruto said looking at her with an emotionless face that she mirrored perfectly.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed with such slightness that only Naruto and Sakura, who had known him for years, could catch it. "Come to take me back to Konoha I presume," He didn't want to go back to Konoha, and he wouldn't, at least not until he had carried out his revenge. These two had been coming after him time and time again, and they were only slowing him down.

"Yes, that's the plan, you're coming back, dead or alive, preferably alive, though," Sakura said, all the while maintaining her cool façade. Her hands began to move in precise patterns, and Naruto nodded. Sasuke, though he watched with all-seeing eyes, couldn't decipher the meaning of her secret message.

"Hai," Naruto responded to her verbally. Sasuke soon found his eyes focused on Sakura as she appeared behind him in seconds her fist aimed for his chest. He barely dodged her, and her fist shattered the branch on which he and his team were standing, continuing to the ground, where she destroyed a quarter mile of forest.

Karin yelped as a hurricane of wind engulfed her and sliced her skin like scissors to paper. Naruto turned his head, directing the hurricane that flowed from his mouth towards Sasuke.

Sakura stood in the center of the crater with a minute feeling of regret for using so much chakra; however her reserves were not drained yet. Juugo soon joined her in the crater's depths.

"I don't want to hurt you," he said, a hint of concern in his eyes and voice.

"You won't," Sakura assured him. She lunged at him punching and kicking at his big framed body. She had to admit, he was attractive. Her fists, equipped with little chakra, seemed to be of no use against him.

'_Pretty little thing isn't she, I wonder what possessed Sasuke to go after Karin when he could've had that,_' Suigetsu thought as he watched this battle from the safety of the shadows. His finger ran over the blade of his Kubikiri Hōchō. '_It's too bad I might need to get her blood all over you,_' he sighed through his look of excitement.

"What's your name again, Juugo ne?"

"Hai," he blocked her kick with his own and the two of them launched themselves back.

"So, tell me what it is that you see in Sasuke that makes you want to follow him," this was something she was genuinely curious about. Surely he could do better things with his life.

"Because, if I didn't, I'd never stop killing," he informed her. "I hate killing."

"Then Juugo-san, I hate to tell, you, you've picked the wrong person to follow," she focused medical chakra into her fist and landed a hit to his abdomen. It didn't surprise her when his abs were just as rock hard as the rest of his body, but her medical chakra delivered a blow that would slow down his reaction time as it messed with his nervous system.

"Haruno-san, you are wrong," he said. "Sasuke-sama isn't as cold as you think he is."

'_Sasuke-sama?_' did he really hold that much respect for the younger Uchiha? "Juugo-san, our opinions," she grunted as she slammed her knee into his stomach and he spit up on the ground. He retaliated by slicing at her with a kunai. "Are our own, and mine, is that Sasuke has been consumed by hatred," '_and that he needs saving. We will save him,_'

Juugo said no more as he paused, realizing that his reaction time wouldn't do it for the fight he was in. He stood in a fighting stance. His mind was working overdrive to assess how he should continue in this battle against Haruno Sakura.

Sakura cast him a half glaring and half sympathetic look before creating hand seals at lightening speed.

Juugo felt a force prodding at his mind, and the dark part of him rushed to assistance. His eyes glazed over and his body shook with laughter. "A girl, just what I wanted for my next victim," were the chilling words that came from his mouth. He looked her up and down, her body was definitely appealing, and maybe he would have some fun before he killed her. A smirk crossed his face. But, he was confused when his victim disappeared in a rush of pink flower petals.

His face phased to a look of surprise when the rain suddenly got heavier and soon the drops of water took on the form of kunai, falling from the sky. He ignored them, his only acknowledgment to the falling blades being his attempts to dodge. "Where are you my little flower," he asked. He flinched, kunai were sticking in and out of him everywhere.

The pink haired shinobi smiled triumphantly as she watched Juugo fall to his knees, his glazed eyes looking to the sky as he was trapped in the illusion. Sakura reached behind her and retrieved the sword from the sheath strapped to her back and gracefully whipped it through the air, piercing Juugo with metal and medical chakra that immediately knocked him unconscious.

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, the inside of both his forearms facing each other. Two seals on his gloves made contact and he turned his limbs so they were parallel. Two blades shot out of the backs of his gloves, both half the length of his arms. They glowed as he focused wind chakra into them. He lunged and swung his left blade at Sasuke, who turned to the side to see the metal cut through the stone behind him like a hot knife through butter. He jerked it out. A tear appeared in Sasuke's shirt and skin, but the red color did not stay long on his chest as the rain washed away the oncoming blood.

"Wind chakra, is it," he knew it when he was cut though the blade never touched him, because the chakra did. Naruto did not respond with words but instead continued to slice at him, piercing him sometimes with chakra but mostly with metal. '_He's faster than before,_' Sasuke didn't put up much resistance. He found it odd, but he was a bit shocked by Naruto's increased speed and was to slow himself in that moment to even attempt to fight back.

When Naruto finally paused, Sasuke's entire front looked like it had been through a meat grinder. Naruto was slowing down. '_Is it because I'm low on chakra? Or is it something else,_'

"_What are you trying to do kunoichi," Naruto asked the woman from behind his mask. Her hands were slowly moving in her last moments. She tossed a kunai that pierced his calf. He didn't even flinch._

"_I hope you burn in-cough-hell," blood flooded her mouth as she closed her eyes and fell to the ground. Her loosely tied grass fore-head protector came undone and rested on the ground beside her. "Paralysis…jutsu…" were the last words she uttered._

'_No, I had Sakura-chan look over me, nothing was wrong. Her jutsu failed._' He told himself. His knees bent and he launched himself into the air with a spin. He flew towards Sasuke and cut deep gashes into his skin before his heal made contact with Sasuke's forearms as he blocked.

Sasuke threw Naruto forward and quickly prepared himself to launch a gokakyuu. "Katton: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!" the name of his jutsu echoed as flames burst from between his parted lips and sped towards the blonde ANBU shinobi. He didn't move from his spot, his feet were grounded. He placed his right hand over his left blade, and an orb of spinning wind chakra surrounded it and he flung it at the oncoming fire. Upon contact with the fire ball the red-orange blaze disbanded and burned out. The rain was of little assistance. '_Nani? There's no way he could've just done that, he has horrible chakra control, and yet he used nothing but pure chakra to destroy my gokakyuu,_'

Sakura sighed as she looked at Juugo. "I would have thought you would have picked someone of higher ability, Sasuke." She nodded her head. '_Though I must admit he's certainly a respectable person, he may be fighting for you, but he's got morals, had we met under different circumstances we might have been good friends._' she nodded again out of respect before looking up with a sickly sweet smile on her face. "Who's next?"

"So you're the annoying little girl who's always pining after my Sasuke-kun," Karin glared at Sakura as she stepped out from the shadows of rain and fallen trees. '_It's my turn to step up to the plate,_'

"I take it Sasuke-_kun_ talks about me quite a bit doesn't he," Sakura spoke in her ANBU monotone voice. "What does he say about me? Does he miss me?" she blushed and made a pose like a little school girl with her first crush, it wasn't hard, seeing as she'd done it many times before when she had been young.

"No, he never says a word about either of you, not you nor that blonde demon over there," she gestured toward Naruto, putting her hands on her hips and leaning towards the right.

"Now, Karin, don't go insulting people you don't know." Sakura wagged her finger as though scolding a small child. "I've two lessons to teach you." Sakura cracked her knuckles one at a time, Karin visibly flinched at each crack, something Sakura found very amusing.

"You, teach me? Please, what could a weakling like you teach me?" she raised a bright red eyebrow.

"I lied, I've three lessons for you," she closed her eyes. "One, you're a bad liar, if Sasuke never speaks of us, how do you know who we are or anything that may have happened between us in the past?" Crack. "Two, calling Naruto a demon is about the dumbest, most naive thing you could say. He has a demon trapped within him, but that boy is an angel." Crack. "Three, never underestimate, a Konoha, shinobi," Crack. Sakura's eyes shot open, something that Karin found eerie. Green orbs glowed in the darkness and through the water. There was a holocaust burning with such intensity in almost hurt to look at. Sakura lunged and her foot hit Karin square in the chest, pushing her into the earth and making her a crater of her own. With gracefulness that could be compared to a ballerina, she flipped into the air and landed on the damp, muddy earth with barley a sound. She had to say Sasuke's team had very much disappointed her so far. Karin especially, even Sakura, when she was younger, twelve, could've beaten Karin as she was _now_. Her eyes searched and she found a movement in the silence. "Suigetsu,"

He physically flinched when he heard his name spoken as though he were on a list of people who were brutally murdered in a massacre that no one gave a damn about.

"Come out,"

"I have to hand it to you, Naruto, you've gotten better since our last fight, after all, you haven't fallen unconscious once," Sasuke taunted.

"Look at that neither have you," Naruto sighed as he blocked Sasuke's punches and kicks and dished out his own kicks and stabs. "So, Sakura-chan asked you earlier, how have you been coming with your quest for revenge? The fact that I saw Itachi only a few months ago when he tried to take the Kyuubi tells me you haven't done well. What's the matter, he still too much for you to handle?"

"Actually my plans are about to go a lot better," Sasuke's crimson eyes burned into Naruto's Blue ones. He pulled out his Katana and tried to fend off Naruto's blades.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Really, tell me all ABOUT IT!" He shouted the last two words as he caught the other boy's katana in the X his blades formed. In seconds he snapped the thin sword to half its original length.

Suigetsu made a successful hit to the kunoichi's side, shaving skin from her torso. She couldn't help but yelp at the pain. Her hand immediately found the wound and, being as conservative as she could, she stopped the bleeding while continually dodging his gigantic blade.

"Naruto is taking awfully long to take out Sasuke isn't he?" Suigetsu smirked, swinging his Kubikiri Hōchō violently at the kunoichi. She blocked with the same sword she'd used earlier to take out Juugo. Her pink bangs were plastered to her pale face.

"Ah, but Sasuke is also taking a long time to defeat Naruto, ne? He's just taking his time. You see Suigetsu-san, something we learned since our last meeting with our dear friend, is how to toy with people, and use their emotions against them." At that moment, as if on cue, Sasuke howled in anger as he attacked Naruto with everything he had. The blonde ANBU shinobi had on a smirk that was very much hidden under the long wet hair that clung to his face and neck.

"You, you!" Sasuke growled. What Naruto had just said to him made him feel so much anger it was unbearable.

"_Ha, you know Sasuke, I'm beginning to understand what Itachi told me last time I saw him." Naruto smiled._

"_And what is that?"_

"_That even with the Sharingan and everything you've gone through to gain power, you're still weak, heh, he was right, you're not even _worth_ killing,"_

Naruto had a smirk on his face but inside he was feeling huge pangs of guilt and sympathy for what he'd said. He didn't mean what he said. As horrible as it sounded to say aloud, Sasuke was worth killing, but more importantly, he was worth saving. He'd been driven by anger and hatred most of his life. The hatred was consuming him, and if Naruto or Sakura couldn't do something soon, the boy who they grew to love would be gone forever; lost inside the empty shell he was turning into.

But, Naruto was no fool. He knew how to get to Sasuke, to make him get careless with his fighting, to get him to let his guard down so he could take him down and bring him home. Hurting him was all he could do to break him down.

"Naruto, you make me sick, you know that?" Sasuke didn't realize that he was giving in to his weakness. "SICK! What do you know about me? You don't know anything about me or anything about what's happened to me!"

"Sasuke, you've told me this already," Naruto blocked a kick with his blades. "Remember, four years ago, when we fought the first time and you tried to kill me."

"Gr," Sasuke swung his broken katana and threw it at his opponent. He created a number of hand seals and slammed his palm on the ground. In a puff of smoke a giant anaconda appeared. Naruto reared his head in disgust.

"I hate snakes," he said. "Especially one who summons others to do its bidding," Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Naruto cringed slightly as the beasts breathe accompanied a hiss and the distinct smell of damp earth. Its powerful jaws crashed down onto the ground, giving Naruto's slowing reflexes no time to move him out of the way. The creature's mouth was closing on him. His feet were standing on the teeth of the beast and his hands holding its poison fangs apart with everything he could muster. The snake lifted its head so he could see Sasuke and behind him Sakura battling Suigetsu. '_I've been swallowed by one of Orochimaru's snakes before, but this one, this one's different. It's breathe; it doesn't smell because of the decaying bodies it's eaten. It smells because of poison._' He could already feel himself slipping out of consciousness. Beads of sweat mixed with the rain on his face. If the mouth of that snake closed, he'd be done. Once this poison knocked him out, anyone could easily kill him.

Sasuke smirked as he watched Naruto struggle to remain awake and to keep his summon's mouth open. A look of anger took over his features. Then, the blue eyes of his ex-teammate shown with pity, he looked at Sasuke with pity. _That_ made him angry. Naruto, who was weak, and pathetic, and had never known his family looked upon Sasuke with eyes that felt sorry for him. He felt sorry for a prodigy who had grown up with family, and friends and who even though he had betrayed the village still had people who loved him. Sasuke pulled a kunai from the pouch on his thigh and thrust it forward. The sharpened point hit Naruto right in the gut knocking him back into the snake's throat, its mouth closed in an instant.

Only then did it strike him that he had let Naruto break down the walls he'd built and jab him in the heart. He'd let him get to him.

But he had other things to focus on. He had to finish off Sakura, and the last of his bonds would be gone with no way of being revived. He didn't have any use for Sakura to be alive, it seemed only fit to kill her and save someone else the trouble. Sasuke appeared behind her, and being engaged in battle with Suigetsu, she barley dodged the hand threatening to come down on her spine and render her unconscious. The three of them were facing each other. Sakura tried to hide it but she was panting. Her strength was slowly fading.

Sasuke inwardly snickered at this. The pose she now held was one she assumed in desperate situations when she felt she was close to death. He'd seen it on their first A level mission, and many times since them. She held her sword in front of her in a way that resembled the way she had defended Sasuke from Gaara and his bijuu Shukaku during their first experience of the Chuunin exams.

"_Get back!" she hollered at the oncoming Sand-nin. The symbol on his forehead meant love, but she sure as hell didn't feel love radiating off of him. "I won't let you touch him!"_

_Gaara hissed. Sasuke struggled to deal with his curse seal as he listened to Sakura yell at the Sand-nin Jinchuuriki who was slowly being overtaken by his bijuu Shukaku without fear._

"_I won't let you touch him!"_

"_You are weak, you are no threat to me," Gaara's voice sounded like nails on a chalk board._

"_I won't let you touch him!"_

"Are you weakening Sakura," he asked in a monotone with an emotionless mask.

"No, but I am, getting a rush of adrenaline, Sasuke," she wasn't completely lying. Her adrenaline was pumping; however it was not from excitement, but from worry for Naruto. She knew he was aware of this, but she would use Naruto's capture to her advantage. He could take care of himself, and she knew that. That didn't stop her from being a little afraid for him though.

"Ah, so you are weakening, and it looks like you're worried for that demon over there," he said.

Had she been in any other situation, she would have let go of her cool front and destroyed anyone saying such things about Naruto. "No, because his death, excites me," she plastered a look of blood lust on her face. When she and Naruto had trained with Sai, he'd taught them quite a bit about emotional masks. They also learned how to make convincing faces and voices to back up any story they may have had to make. Sasuke's eyes widened for a split second, and only for a split second, but she caught it.

He was slightly shocked, she was completely believable, and he couldn't find anything in her stance or expression to tell him otherwise. He pretended he did. "Sakura, you're eyes are betraying you, I can see you're afraid."

"Well, you seem to have lost the ability to read me then," she sheathed her sword.

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow. What was she doing? By putting away her sword she was leaving herself defenseless.

"You're coming back to Konoha, Sasuke," she threw a punch with almost the last of her chakra focused in her fist. Had she been fresh in this fight, she would have taken him down. But she was tired. Tired and slow. Her hit was deflected by his hand, and she continued to the ground. Sakura rolled over in the new dent on the Earth's surface and crossed her arms over her chest before his foot could knock the wind out of her. She glared defiantly at him from her spot on the ground, bleeding heavily from a gash in her side that Suigetsu's Kubikiri Hōchō had inflicted upon her earlier. She had however, put a stop to it's bleeding, but the force with which she hit the ground easily reopened the wound.

"You are of no use to me, you will die." He said simply. He took another kunai from his thigh, all the while holding Sakura down with his foot, and raised it over his head. Her expression remained hard; she was almost daring him to kill her.

A huge explosion sounded from behind them and blood and flesh from the snake that had swallowed Naruto spattered everywhere. He stood drenched in the blood from the beast's inards. Sasuke looked at him with a look that resembled horror on his face. He was frozen in his position over Sakura.

Naruto looked up and his eyes looked at Sasuke with the same look of pity. His chest and shoulders heaved as he breathed shallow breathes. Water that fell from the sky washed off the hot red liquid that thickly coated his body in small bits at a time.

* * *

_The kunai Sasuk__e had thrown hit him in the stomach, barley penetrating his ANBU vest. As he was thrown back he took one huge breathe of fresh air before he was encompassed in the darkness of the snake's throat. He held his breathe refusing to breathe in the poison fumes emitted by the acid in its body. He couldn't move and could feel him self being swallowed and pushed further down its slimy throat. The stomach acid that threatened to decompose his body while he was still alive became stronger and burned at the exposed skin on his face, neck, arms and fingers. Soon it would be soaking through his clothes and get to the rest of him. The poison that he was trying to avoid breathing into his lungs might be absorbed by his skin through the acid. He squeezed his arm from where it lay straight above his head to so his hand was in front of his chest. Naruto was careful not to cut himself with the blades that still stuck out of his gloves. He felt his chest jerk as his lungs tried to force him to breathe. But he was ignorant. He turned his palm to touch the flesh inside of the snake. Another movement by the snake and he was pushed further into its solar plexus. He gathered nearly all of his chakra, minus his wind chakra, into his hand, compressing into a small round ball. _

'_This had better work!' he __gritted his teeth and thrust his hand forward, peircing through the flesh of the snake. Naruto let go of his control over the chakra and it exploded, blowing the snakes to bits.

* * *

_Sasuke was very much surprised. He had known that Naruto wouldn't die inside of the snake, but merely fall unconscious and be imprisoned inside of it. He had not intended Naruto to die; he had other plans for him. But for him to escape that was something Sasuke didn't think him capable of.

"Sasuke, heh, you've underestimated me, I'm not the same little _child_ that you used to know," his voice was raspy as he tried to catch his breathe. He laughed hoarsely, taking small steps toward the three still conscious shinobi. His feet splashed in the puddles. His right leg landed harder and faster than his left. He was limping, and as he got closer, they saw why. One of the snake's bones, most likely part of a rib, was sticking out of his calf on both sides. He didn't even seem to notice it.

Sakura smiled through the rain. She knew he'd pull through for himself and for her. He wouldn't die yet.

"Somehow Naruto, I think I've got your ability very much figured out," he lied. He honestly had no idea what Naruto could do. But, Naruto had no idea what he was capable of either.

Suigetsu was watching Naruto with a peaked interest. So this was the one who had defeated Haku, his older brothers apprentice shinobi. He'd heard about the confrontation from some people, and he heard that he had defeated Haku with the help of the Kyuubi which was sealed within him. But, he was fighting Sasuke, someone who Suigetsu saw to be much stronger than Zabuza or Haku, without the slightest assistance from the Kyuubi.

"You're lying, Sasuke," his voice was getting raspier. "You don't know what I'm capable of, and I don't know what you can do either, but I'll find out, won't I?"

"You might, but I don't think that you'll ever get me into such a desperate situation that I'll need to show you my full abilities." He said. Moments later he realized that he had the upper hand, quite literally, as he had Sakura pinned to the ground, where she would eventually bleed to death if he didn't impale her with the kunai he held above his head.

"Sure," he laughed again. He was getting closer, and Sasuke could here his shallow, rough breathes. The splashing of puddles and dripping of rain accompanied him. "Put the kunai down Sasuke,"

Sasuke was taken aback for a moment. "Naruto, are you suggesting that I not kill Sakura?"

"No, that wasn't a suggestion, it was an order. Put it down." He coughed.

"Gladly, I have no use for this pathetic excuse for a kunoichi." He made to slice into her chest and pierce her heart. He almost gasped when Naruto lunged forward and landed over Sakura on his hands and knees. Sasuke's kunai was deep in his back.

"Naruto," Sakura looked up at his face. "Heh, you're going to die if you keep doing this for me.

"Hm, Sakura-chan, you'll never learn to keep yourself out of trouble will you?"

"I doubt it, but Naruto, you don't need to keep saving me, I wouldn't have died here you know,"

"I know," he inhaled sharply as Sasuke took the kunai from his back and kicked him off of Sakura.

"Always the burden aren't you Sakura, always getting everyone killed because you're too weak to defend yourself," Sasuke gave her the same emotionless glance as always.

"She's not a burden, Sasuke." Naruto pushed himself to his knees and climbed back to his feet. "Heh, you, maybe, but not Sakura, she's not a burden."

Sakura threw Sasuke off of her and put a glowing hand to her side as she got to her knees.

Naruto moved himself to stand in front of Sasuke, lifted his arm and thrust it forward to give Sasuke the final blow. But he stopped. Not because he wasn't ready to strike. He wouldn't kill Sasuke; merely hit him in such a place that he would fall unconscious. He was ready to strike, but his body wouldn't move.

"_Paralysis…"_

"Jutsu…" his eyes widened as he finished the final words of the grass kunoichi. He was paralyzed, and he fell to the ground, his body unbalanced. He could still see Sasuke.

"Naruto," Sakura realized that the jutsu that the rogue female Grass shinobi had used on him had finally taken effect. She tried to go to him but her body wouldn't obey her and move, no matter how much she tried.

"_Sakura, could you look at this cut on my leg?" Naruto asked her as they finished the last of the Grass-nin._

"_Why? It's just a scratch Naruto, is that to much for you?" she raised an eyebrow behind her mask._

"_No, she said it was a Paralysis Jutsu. Is there something wrong?" Naruto watched as she knelt down. She touched his calf with two fingers. "Oi, Sakura-chan, you're hand is bleeding,"_

"_Hm? So it is," she noticed that the blood from his cut mixed with her own, but she was ignorant. "Well, Naruto, you'll be fine. I can't find anything." She healed the cut on his leg and then the one on her own hand._

"I broke the first and foremost rule of being a medic; never let your blood mix with that of another." She laughed as she once again fell to the ground

"You two will never learn, I'll always be stronger," he glared at them.

"No, Sasuke, you'll always be the most powerful, never the strongest, you'll never be stronger than anyone…" he spoke. His jaw soon felt the effects of the paralysis, and he unwillingly but acceptingly slipped out of consciousness, unable to do anymore.

"Naruto," Sakura whispered. She forced her arm to move and she dragged herself to him. Her body would not be stopped as quickly, as she was not hit directly with the jutsu. "Hm, I failed to do my part yet again, surprise, surprise," she rested her head on his chest.

Sasuke looked down at the sight of the two of them. It was pathetic. They were never good enough never strong enough.

"Looks like you win again, ne?" Suigetsu asked as he put his steel back into the straps on his back "They aren't that bright are they, saying you'll never be the strongest,"

"No, they're not wrong," Sasuke informed him. Naruto was right; and that irked him. He would never be the strongest, the most powerful maybe, but never the strongest.

"What do you mean?" Suigetsu asked. "From where I stand you seem pretty strong."

"No, strength and power are different. Strength comes from the heart, and mine was destroyed a long time ago, and therefore I'll never be strong." Sasuke coughed as the rain beat down on him. His coughing fit continued.

"Oi, are you alright Sasuke?"

"Fine," he choked out. "I've bled out a little too much is all. Wake Juugo and Karin, we need to get to the-"he covered his mouth with his hand and allowed himself to lower to his knees.

"Sasuke," Suigetsu sent him a worried glance.

"We need to get to the border of Snow." He panted. "We need to get to the border of snow; we need to get there soon,"

"Unh," Suigetsu shrugged off his worries. "Hai"

* * *

**A/N: Ok so that was pretty straight forward with the big fight and what not. ****For those of you who are reading this, don't worry, the plot will be much more evident in the next chapter. (Also, to meluvnaruto, there will be some Sasuke stuff, but I'll try my best to keep it to a minimum, he gets enough fanfics for it this one's for Naruto ))**

**Ja ne!**

**-Wicka**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: OK! Here's chapter two. Any way, I have a few translations to give you. First off, the name of the Jutsu Sasori uses is ****Jakyou Chuushin no Jutsu, or 'Heathen Heart'. I'm not sure it's grammatically correct. Also, Zen-Naruto means Good Naruto and Ashi-Naruto means Evil Naruto, so yea. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**

"_Ah, so you__'re the rogue Grass-nin, ne?" Naruto asked from behind his mask._

"_Rogue isn't the word I'd use, more like, rebel." The tallest male in the group smirked. "And judging by the symbol on your foreheads, I'd say you are the Black Ops Konoha sent after us, ne?"_

"'_Black Ops' isn't the term I'd use," Sakura stated. "It sounds too sinister,"_

"_More like, Assassins," Naruto tilted his head. "Though that sounds just as bad, doesn't it?"_

"_What ever you want to call yourselves in life, I think you should be more worried about what to call yourselves in death." the six shinobi divided themselves into groups of three, one group going for each ANBU. Among the three who came for Naruto was a single kunoichi. She captured his interest the most as she was the one who seemed to be fighting for something other than for the sake of fighting. He created two kage bushiin, one for each of the male shinobi._

"_What is it about you Konoha-nin, you're all so annoying and in everyone else's business," she asked him angrily. He merely humored her by dodging her blows._

"_What do you mean kunoichi," he asked._

"_All of you are just so annoying and you think you know what's best for everyone!" she said. "You don't know what's best for anyone though do you?"_

"_I know what is best for this country and your presence is not." he answered back catching her fist in his hand. She jerked herself free._

"_You don't know that now do you?" she said. "I may not be good for this country, but maybe this country is good for ME!" she lunged. Through the rain he couldn't be sure but he could've sworn she was crying.

* * *

_

"_I hope you-cough-burn in hell," she coughed up blood.

* * *

_

Sakura felt herself being lifted and thrown over the shoulder of a man, through her closed eyes she couldn't see who, but judging by the rigid posture and hard shoulders, she'd bet her apartment it was Juugo.

"Sasuke-sama," Juugo's voice echoed in her ears. "Are you alright to travel just now?"

"Hai," he coughed. "I'm fine,"

"I've bandaged him up just fine, right Sasuke-kun?" Karin's voice made her want to barf, but she couldn't because if she did, she wouldn't be able to open her mouth and rid herself of the vomit. "Your leg was badly cut up," she said. "Especially up on your thigh,"

"Karin, don't touch me." Sakura would have greatly enjoyed seeing Karin's face when Sasuke told her to let go.

"So I'm carrying the demon kid ne?" Suigetsu asked. She heard Water drip as Naruto was lifted off the ground. "Ugh, he smells disgusting."

"He did just blow up a snake," Juugo added.

"Suigetsu," Sasuke's voice,

"Hai,"

"Don't call him the 'demon kid'," Sasuke told him.

"Why shouldn't he? After all he _is_ a demon kid, you called him that yourself," Karin snorted. "That bitch of a kunoichi called him an 'angel', what a joke!"

"He's not a demon." Sasuke said plainly.

"You don't agree that he's an angel do you?" Karin asked in surprise.

"No, but he's the closest thing this Earth will ever see." Sasuke remarked coolly between coughs.

"You can't be serious," Suigetsu asked.

"Don't say anymore-cough-about it," Sasuke's feet splashed in the puddles. "We need to get to the border." he spit on the ground.

Sakura felt Juugo's arm tighten around her waist as he started to move. So, they were headed for Snow, lovely. But, one thing she didn't understand was why Sasuke didn't just kill them then and there, or at least her, after all, he had 'No use for her' anymore. Why was he suddenly deciding to keep her alive?

The group continued through the rain.

"Damn it, let's just stop for the night it's still raining and there's a damned cave right there," Suigetsu hollered to Sasuke who nodded rolling his eyes. They all stopped and went to the cave Suigetsu had pointed out. "Ugh, this bastard is getting heavier by the minute," he let Naruto fall limply to the ground. He groaned.

"Oi, Karin," she looked up enthusiastically at the sound of Sasuke's voice saying her name. "Bandage up the both of them, and Juugo, help her out,"

"Bandage them, what for?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips as her face twisted to a look of disgust. "Why do you even care? They won't be needed much longer anyway,"

"I don't need them to bleed to death, so do it. The nine-tails won't sustain Naruto forever and Sakura can't die just yet." he said.

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow. Earlier, Sasuke had seemed perfectly content with killing the kunoichi. Was it really just a 'heat of the moment' kind of thing? He watched as Juugo tried to set Sakura down as gently as possible. "Oi, Juugo just drop her,"

"No, she's already bled out enough." he said while laying her down. Her expression remained the same as earlier. She had a small smile on her face.

"You're so soft," Karin said as she stripped Naruto of his vest and shirt so she could wrap up his chest and back. "She's just a pathetic little kunoichi who's to love sick for her own good." She remarked disdainfully.

"Karin shut up no one wants to hear you talk about yourself okay?" Suigetsu sat down, leaning his back against the dirt wall of the cave, resting his head against a piece of moss that clung to the earthy surface. He knotted his eyebrows in frustration; however his face relaxed when he removed the blade from his back and leaned back more comfortably.

"Fuck you Suigetsu." she retaliated bitterly.

"The hell you will, I'd rather have _her_ do it," he smiled deviously at the unconscious Sakura.

"Seems only fit that you'd take the whore." she mumbled running a hand through her fire red hair.

"Stop bickering, the both of you," Sasuke snapped. He spoke like an impatient father scolding his two children. They did as they were told. His eyes were focused on the moss that was draped over the mouth of the grotto. Beyond that was a never ending forest of damp trees that radiated a rotten smell like when you pick up a really old piece of bark that's grown into the moss surrounding it on a steamy forest floor.

"Unh," Naruto groaned softly as his unmoving body was tightly bound.

"Oi, Sasuke-sama," Juugo turned his head as a thought entered his mind. "Why are you keeping Haruno-san alive?"

"She's a medic. If anything she could be used as a healer for us." he said flatly. Juugo watched his eyes carefully as he answered. He saw a quick flash of something he didn't recognize that seemed to be aroused by Sakura's name.

"I see," he lifted the bottom of Sakura's vest and shirt so he could get to her wound better. He wiped it down with one of the pieces of cloth Karin had wet just a few minutes before. Had she been able to move he was positive that she would have kicked him for even touching her. He gently but tightly dressed her wound, and pulled her top back down to cover the bandage.

Karin showed no such courtesy to Naruto. He nearly screamed in his sleep from between his barely parted lips when she ripped the piece of snake's bone from his calf and wiped it clean before carelessly tying it up. "For someone who's unconscious he sure wines a lot." She remarked in an annoyed tone.

Sasuke almost smiled. Naruto was still the same as he remembered him when they were Genin. He really hadn't changed much at all in the past four years.

Naruto was asleep but locked inside a dream. He was still fighting the Grass kunoichi. However his battle soon ended when he heard someone scream.

"MOTHER FUCKING-AH!" Suigetsu howled when he dropped the blunt but heavy side of his steel on his foot while riding it of Sakura's blood. The cloth that he had been holding fell into the dirt and the excess serum sloughed of onto the damp soil.

"Suigetsu" Karin started. "Be quiet." she sat down leaning against the back of the cave next to Naruto whom she had haphazardly bandaged. Her hand reached into her bag and she pulled out a rice ball and a full water bottle.

Had he not been so concentrated on his foot, Suigetsu would have made a rude remark.

Naruto found himself unable to open his eyes, not that it would have done him any good, as he was unable to move his eyes. So he listened. What was it that Sasuke felt he needed to kidnap him for? Did it have something to do with his plot for revenge? That was most likely the correct answer to his question. '_Sasuke, what the hell do you want with me?_' Naruto tried to force his mouth open but to no avail. He mumbled instead. Attempting to say something along the lines of 'I'm gonna kick your ass as soon as I can move,' He would have glared when he heard Karin laugh.

"Oh great, I think he might be waking up," she said, her glossed lips curling into a smile. "He's trying to talk, isn't that pitiful," She bit into her rice ball.

"Whatever. He's pretty useless like this; he won't be able to do anything." Suigetsu pointed out while massaging his foot. "Wish that damn medic would wake up my foot hurts like crazy!"

"Stop complaining." Juugo said calmly. He spread his cloak over Sakura. "I'm going to sleep so just keep it down," he crossed his legs, laced his fingers in his lap, and rested his chin on his chest, almost immediately falling asleep.

The other two followed suit. Sasuke turned when his teammates were asleep, which did not take long, and walked to the back of the cave, his feet kicking up small clouds of dust. He stood over Naruto, looking down. His face twisted in anger. But, this anger was not directed at the blond shinobi at his feet. He didn't know who he was angry at in that particular moment. He painfully knelt down next to him and looked at his face. He looked rather peaceful. Sasuke soon found himself lifting the younger boy and carrying him over to lye closer to Sakura.

He sat in between the two of them in a pose that they would have called his 'brooding pose'. He heard Naruto mumble something that would have been violent he was sure, if he could have understood it. "Naruto be quiet, I want to go to sleep."

Naruto, not seeing the point in retaliating since he had no power over his body, decided it was safe to do so. He did, however, continue to wonder what Sasuke wanted with him. It was something he would've been much better off knowing.

Juugo was trying not to let the freezing rain bother him. He was carrying the fallen kunoichi he had been defeated by the day before on his back. He had given her his cloak to keep her from getting sick. At some points, he did regret it, because he didn't wear a shirt and was therefore incredibly cold. But he would rather keep her dry. He had respect for her. He knew that she was still trying to save Sasuke from himself, no matter what she had said to him. On some level, he believed that being saved was the one thing Sasuke actually needed.

Suigetsu and Sasuke had swapped out turns carrying Naruto on their backs, as he was much heavier then Sakura. Karin found it rather amusing that Suigetsu discovered Naruto was too heavy for him to carry all the way, when he mentioned that he was also carrying a very heavy sword and that even without the steel Sasuke had a similar problem, she sneered at him and said Sasuke was still injured and was just 'saving his strength'.

"Unh," Naruto moaned as the cold rain tapped on his back, which had no cover other then the thin, disintegrating bandages. The Grass kunoichi's paralysis had not worn off yet. He was leaning limply on his ex-teammate.

"I think we're getting close to the border Sasuke-kun, the rain is starting to turn into snow." Karin informed him.

"I know." he was becoming a little frustrated with the snow flakes getting in his eyes.

"I hate snow," Suigetsu complained. "I'm going to freeze," he held his hood up so it would not fall down again and expose his head to the cold.

"Oh suck it up," Karin spat.

"No I'm _really_ going to freeze." His liquid body could stand, and in fact reveled in the rain, but not snow. He'd turn into an icicle, quite literally.

"Just hold your cloak shut." Karin rolled her eyes in annoyance.

They were headed to a cavernous part of Snow country's border, there they would find another cave, and set themselves up there.

* * *

"_Kunoichi, if you have something to say, say it." he was getting irritated with the Grass-nin. His bushiins had already taken care of the male shinobi, and Sakura was well on her way to finishing her battle. He slashed her chest and she was brought to her knees. He realized she was only a few years older than him, twenty-one at most. Also, he noticed that she was a genuinely beautiful woman. Her hair was long, and bangs hung over her face. They were uneven, there were more bangs on her left then her right, and the majority of the locks of navy blue hair were tied on the right side of her head. Her eyes shone with a brown, almost red color._

"_Let me go," she asked. No asked wasn't the word, pleaded._

_She was pleading him with her eyes to let her go. He could think of only one thing to say._

"_Why?"

* * *

_

Things at the Akatsuki bases were never particularly warm or cheerful or inviting. But things seemed a shred more agitated than usual as four of them sat on their own sides of a square table. The room was dim. Kisame was leaning back in his chair his arms crossed over his broad chest and his eyes focused on an imaginary bug flying around the room. Itachi and Sasori were having, in the eyes of a child, or Deidara, a staring contest as the Uchiha sipped green tea from a black cup with their organization's insignia on it. Deidara had his hand in the pouches of clay strapped to his upper thighs, working the substance with his hands as a means of relaxing himself in the awkward atmosphere. He was looking back and fourth between Itachi and Sasori's eyes, watching to see who would blink first, as if that would relieve the tension in the room. Sasori was beginning to squint. He could have sworn he saw the corners of Itachi's mouth twitch upward for a split second. The ticking of the clock hanging on the wall was giving Deidara the urge to blow something up. Finally, the abrupt movement of Kisame rising to his feet caused them both to blink.

Sasori looked up at the seven foot shinobi and Deidara released a breathe he didn't know he was holding as the tense fog thinned out a bit. The shark like man flashed a frightening smile as he lifted the Samehada that was leaning against the table and slung it over his shoulder. Itachi stood, turning to push in his chair before continuing on his path.

"Itachi-san, Kisame-san, where are you going," Sasori asked as the two of them stood from the table inside the Snow Country base.

"It's no concern of yours, Sasori-san." Itachi replied calmly as he buttoned his cloak.

"Are you going after the Kyuubi? If you are, than it does concern me." Sasori said in a monotone similar to Itachi's. Deidara smirked.

"How is that exactly," Kisame couldn't help but ask. The pair had their backs to the two other Akatsuki members sitting at the table.

"Simple, the Kyuubi is no longer your assignment." Itachi and Kisame both turned to face him, perplexed.

"What the hell are you going on about Sasori?" Kisame asked angrily, tightening his grip on the handle of the blade he held. "We are the most powerful shinobi in the Akatsuki and we were assigned the most powerful bijuu to retrieve."

"Heh, Sasori no Danna, you didn't tell them yet did you?" Deidara asked, though he already knew the answer. "Sasori no Danna created a new jutsu, and presented it to Leader-sama. It is meant to be used in the capture of the Kyuubi."

"Be quiet, Deidara." Sasori silenced his younger partner. "Leader-sama has given the assignment of capturing the Kyuubi to Deidara and me, seeing as you two have continuously failed to do so, and I have a smoother way of getting it."

"I find this hard to believe." Itachi stated, narrowing his eyes slightly. Deidara felt the tension rise again.

"Believe it, Itachi-san; you've been revoked from the mission. Now hand over any information you may have regarding the Kyuubi's whereabouts." Sasori stood.

"Hn, if Leader-sama wishes it," if Itachi was an emotional person, he would have been angry enough to rip out Sasori's wooden throat. But he wasn't, so he didn't. "My younger brother has captured the Kyuubi container, and plans to use it as bate to lure me in and kill me."

"We received the message from him early this morning in the form of a very cold snake with a scroll." Kisame snorted. "I'm amazed it found us."

"Let me see the note." Sasori put out his hand out.

Somewhat reluctantly, Itachi took a scroll out of his cloak and held it in front of him.

Deidara stood, realizing that he would be leaving very soon with Sasori. He put on his kasa and the chimes jingled softly. He followed Sasori to the door, passing Itachi and Kisame at the same time.

Sasori wrapped his hand around the scroll but Itachi did not let go. He looked up at the taller man with an eyebrow raised. "Sasori-san, I have two things I wish to say to you."

"Hai, what's on your mind Itachi-san,"

"Do not kill Sasuke, his death is something that I and I alone have control over. I'll be the one to decide when and where he meets his demise." His grip loosened slightly as Sasori's tightened. "Also, Sasori-san, if you undermine me again, you will deeply regret having done so."

"Now, Itachi-san, is that anyway to speak to your elders?" Sasori pulled the scroll from the grip of the younger man and put it inside his cloak. He proceeded to walk out the door.

Deidara's eyes locked with Itachi's and he saw the crimson iris take on an unfamiliar green tint as he stepped out the door. A blizzard immediately greeted them. The hatch to the base closed and Kisame angrily slammed his sword near the door frame, nearly snapping the wooden structure.

"What the hell is this all about?" Kisame stalked into the kitchen and took out a gallon jug of sake form the fridge and started to chug it. "I need to talk to Leader-sama about this," he stated between swigs.

"If Sasori-san says Leader-sama removed us from the assignment, then he did." Itachi put two fingers to his temple. "By the way if you drink like a fish, Kisame, that will only further support the idea that you are one," Itachi received a glare as he commented offhandedly about Kisame's alcoholism. He stepped out of the room and went down the hall to his own quarters.

The room was dark, except for one lamp sitting on his desk in the corner. The floors were hard wood mahogany and the walls were painted navy blue. He didn't pick the colors, they just happened to suit him better than the pink walls in the room down the hall. Said room belonged to Tobi, a member who preferred bright colors as opposed to dark ones. He was afraid of the dark, a trait Itachi thought made him inferior to the standards of any good shinobi, let alone an S-class criminal with an Akatsuki ring.

There he sat on his bed and reached into his cloak, pulling out the other half of the note from his brother. He'd given Sasori the part that gave his location, and kept the part that was directed to him and him alone. He read it over again. Itachi smirked. He couldn't love anything, but if he could, he'd just _love_ to do as Sasuke had asked him in his letter. Hell, maybe he would.

* * *

The paralysis on Naruto's body had begun to wear off, starting first, in the place it had slowed last, his mouth. "Put me down, you son of a bitch," he said as Suigetsu bound him with ninja wire. 

"Sorry, Uzumaki, Sasuke's orders," He laughed as Naruto strained to move and rebel. He purposely slammed his hand on the blond shinobi's back, getting a half growl half yelp out of him.

"I swear if I could move I'd kick your ass and you'd be visiting your brother in hell _real_ soon, Suigetsu!" Naruto threatened as he was hung from the ceiling of the cavern.

"Naruto, shut up," Sasuke moved himself to face the shinobi hanging in the air. Naruto bit the inside of his mouth and spit blood onto Sasuke's face. He wiped it on his sleeve. "What was the point of that?" he asked unenthusiastically.

Naruto responded by spitting at him again. For this he received a sharp punch to the gut, and a little more blood came into his mouth. He cringed slightly but didn't see it as a hit so much as a gain of ammunition.

"Watch it, bitch," Sakura sent a death glare at Karin as she threw her to the ground near Naruto's feet. "Sasuke, what the hell are you trying to do?" she asked from her spot on the cold, hard dirt. She tried moving her arms as the muscles began working again. She was tightly bound in nin-wire as well.

"Sakura, I would have thought you'd have all this figured out by now." He said.

"Oh, right, let me guess." She looked at him with blank eyes. "You plan on using Naruto's Kyuubi as bait to lure in your brother and kill him? Am I right? It seems mediocre enough a plan to belong to you."

"Smarter than you look, aren't you?" his eyes betrayed nothing as he looked into hers.

"Apparently you aren't," she commented, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Well, tell me, now that we're all tied up, what are you going to do now?"

"Now we wait." He said, leaning back against the cold structure that was the wall of the cave.

The rest of Team Hebi assumed their positions in the dark, eating the last of there rice balls and drinking water in an attempt to build up there physical strength and stamina at the last minute. They listened as Sakura and Naruto began to talk casually, seemingly forgetting the predicament they were in.

"Oi Sakura, do you remember last year, on my birthday, how you threw that surprise party for me? You and everyone else jumped out at me when I came home and nearly scared me out of my skin," he snickered. "I asked you for a kiss that year and you broke my nose instead,"

"Heh, someone was going to give you that present you know, but she chickened out," Sakura said laughing.

"Nani? Who! You never told me this before!" he gawked.

"Oh, I can't tell you that Naruto, if you haven't seen it by now well I'd say you're a bit dumb," she smirked.

"Sakura-chan, you're so mean!" he whined.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Juugo raised an eyebrow. Karin snorted and Suigetsu smirked.

After what seemed like forever and Team Hebi could testify to every event that occurred at Naruto's seventeenth birthday party and every other social affair in Konoha, they all silenced when their ears picked up a soft chiming noise.

The sound of feet padding casually through the snow and the rustling of cloaks and hair graced their ears. Sasuke readied himself for the entrance of the oncoming souls. All eyes were focused on the mouth of the grotto and all muscles were tensed. Just as well, all were surprised and a tad confused, when neither of the two men entering the cave were Uchiha Itachi.

"Who the _hell_ are you," Sasuke asked through gritted teeth. Hands emerged from the sleeves of the Akatsuki cloaks and kasas were removed and tossed aside. Sakura and Naruto gasped, being the first to recognize the two S-class criminals.

"Deidara and…Sasori of the Red Sand, that's impossible," Naruto whispered in disbelief.

"I killed you," Sasuke glared at Deidara, who returned the look with a sneer.

"No, Sasuke, I believe that _I_ killed _myself_, you merely drove me to it, with your intolerable obsession with killing Itachi." he said.

"I _killed_ you!" Sakura repeated. She'd mouthed the words as Sasuke had spoken them. "Chiyo-sama and I, we fought you, and I _killed _you! There's no way you could still be alive!" her eyes shown with anger.

Sasuke spared her a glance. He found it hard to believe that Sakura could have killed Sasori, as he was supposed to be even more powerful than Deidara.

"Yes but we Akatsuki have a way of, sticking around." Deidara said.

"Where is Itachi," Sasuke asked, over the fact that two supposedly dead Akatsuki were standing in front of him, very much alive.

"Hm, ah, yes, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame were revoked from the mission of capturing the Kyuubi container. They were unable to do so on the several occasions that the opportunity arose and they failed to complete the assignment," Sasori stated bluntly. "I, however have a very efficient way of obtaining the nine-tailed bijuu."

"By the way, thanks a lot for saving us the trouble of finding him Sasuke," Deidara's eyes focused excitedly on the jinchuuriki in front of him. "You certainly are helpful,"

"You can't take him, he is meant as bait for Itachi and Itachi alone!" Sasuke unsheathed his broken Katana and made to attack, but was easily thrown back by Deidara's fist. Several of the cuts on his torso reopened painfully. Team Hebi rose to their feet.

"You're all very annoying, you know that," Deidara commented. His hands immediately went to the clay pouches on his legs. However, the realization that they were in a small cave kept him from using his mastery of explosives. "Guess I'll have to do this...no there really isn't a hard way is there?"

"I took you out once and I can do it again," Sasuke lunged, blood seeping from his torso and dripping onto the ground.

"Sasuke when will you admit that you did not defeat me, that I took my own life? Now, Sakura, she _did_ kill Sasori no Danna, heh, it appears as though the kunoichi is stronger then you are, ne? Maybe that's why Itachi-san has yet to meet his demise," Deidara unsheathed his own katana and skillfully kept Sasuke at bay.

* * *

"Sasori, get back, or I swear to god I'll kill you!" Sakura threatened. She didn't _look_ very threatening, and she knew it. But even if she couldn't carry out her threat now, she would later. This bastard would regret anything he did that was out of line, and she'd make sure of it. 

"What do you plan on doing to me, Haruno-san?" he cocked his head to the side. "You'll never be able to defeat me without the help of Chiyo baa-sama,"

"You don't know what I _can_ and_ will_ do to you, Sasori-_san_" she spat.

"Hn, an empty threat," Sasori looked to Naruto. "So, do you plan on saying or doing anything to defend yourself? Or should I just take you now?"

"Heh, even if I wanted to I wouldn't be able to fight you, I'm paralyzed you son of a bitch!" he spat a mouthful of blood and spit at Sasori who took a step back and watched it fall to the ground.

"That was disgusting," Sasori raised an eyebrow.

"Get your ass away from me, I swear I'll, I'll-"

"What, you'll bite me to death? The only part of you that seems to be working is your big mouth, Naruto,"

"If it comes to that, then yes, I will! I'll bite your fucking throat out!" Naruto glared.

* * *

"Does that sword belong to Momochi?" Deidara asked with a hint of interest in his voice. 

"Hai, it did," Suigetsu lunged and attempted to behead the ex Stone-nin.

"Ah, he was one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nanajin Shu like Kisame, wasn't he, and he was your brother to, ne?" he asked, swiftly dodging the attack of the over sized sword.

"Yea, 'was' is the keyword!" Suigetsu launched him self into the air.

Sasuke came up behind Deidara as Suigetsu attacked his front. It had finally struck him to activate his sharingan.

Deidara's face took on a look of excitement as the two shinobi came at him. With speed that could almost be compared to the Fourth Hokage, he spun and slashed the both of them. In the limited space, it was difficult to hold a real battle, but he was Akatsuki, and he could manage. Team Hebi however found it a bit more difficult.

Suigetsu raised his sword over his head, and the blade got wedged in the ceiling. He looked up in surprise. "What the hell?!"

Deidara took his chance "You're all too easy to beat! There's no challenge in this," Deidara commented as he tossed several kunai, all with nin-wire attached to the ends. Karin and Juugo, who had been standing by until they were needed were strung tightly together with Suigetsu, who still awkwardly held his sword over his head as he tried to jerk it free.

At the sound of their surprised yelps, Sasori turned around to see what was happening.

Sasuke was getting back to his feet, but very slowly, as most of the wounds on his body were reopened, and very easily at that. The blood loss was slowing him and making him dizzy. He was beginning to see twice as many people as there were in the room.

"Go ahead, Sasori no Danna, I'll keep them back." Deidara held the nin-wires tight in his hand all the while keeping an eye on Sasuke who was struggling to lift himself from the ground.

"Arigatou Deidara-san," Sasori nodded to him and his attention returned to Naruto. He walked closer to him.

Naruto's as well as Sakura's heart pounded. He gritted his teeth. Sasori's hands formed several seals he did not recognize, his wooden hands clicking with the slightest bit of contact. He lifted his hands and moved them toward Naruto's head.

"Get away from me!" blood dribbled from his mouth. Sasori removed his forehead protector and let it fall onto the ground. His left hand formed a seal in front of his chest.

"Jakyou Chuushin no Jutsu," Sasori pressed the palm of his right hand against the bare fore-head of the blond shinobi.

"Don't TOUCH him!!" Sakura screeched. She as well as Team Hebi watched in horror.

The pupils in Naruto's eyes turned into pinpricks of black in an ocean of blue.

Naruto's already open mouth opened wider, and he began to scream. The scream was so raw, and so loud that it echoed through all of their ears and it felt as though their eardrums would bleed.

* * *

_Naruto found himself standing in the middle of the training area set aside for the shinobi of Konoha. _'How did I get here?'_ he wondered as he tried to look away from Sasori's eyes. It was only when people started appearing out of thin air that he realized that he was inside the confines of his mind, because they were all people he knew and loved, many of them had never met Sasori, and so there was no way he could have been projecting an illusion into his head. Sasori had put them both into the trance that let them into his mind._

_Naruto's sight was red and blurry as he looked at the shinobi in front of him. All around were the people he held dear to him, watching in terror but unable to do a thing for him. He could barely see Sakura and Sasuke, who, in his mind, were but twelve years old, as they screamed for him to do something. _

"_Naruto! Naruto fight him! Don't just let him hurt you dobe!" Sasuke's voice, much higher then it was now in the real world, called for him._

"_Naruto!" Sakura, she's was screaming for him to, and she was crying._

_Then, in one excruciatingly painful blow, he felt himself be torn in two. Lying on the ground, he looked up dizzily from his grassy spot to see another Naruto standing with Sasori's hand still pressed against his forehead. The many bystanders looked back and fourth from one to the other. Naruto quickly realized what had happened._

_Sasori had somehow managed to…split him, or in other words his heart, into two. The part of him that was on the ground, the one who's point of view he currently maintained, held all of his feeling and emotions, all of them but the dark ones._

_The dark half of his heart grasped Sasori's arm. "Sasori-sama,"_

_Zen-Naruto looked up in terror at Ashi-Naruto as he bowed before Sasori. "What are you doing?" Zen-Naruto hollered. "What are you _doing_ to me?"_

"_Making you my puppet," Sasori smiled, and Ashi-Naruto stood up again turning to face Zen-Naruto._

_Zen-Naruto began to run as his other half chased him. He immediately noticed that Ashi-Naruto was of higher stamina than he was, and he understood that this was because Ashi-Naruto was the half that Sasori wanted to maintain._

"_NO!" the ground rushed to meet Zen-Naruto, and consciousness escaped him.

* * *

_

After what seemed like an eternity, Naruto stopped shrieking. Sasori removed his hand from the forehead of the shinobi hanging in front of him. His head dropped and his chin touched his chest.

Deidara stared curiously at Naruto, whose eyes were focused on the ground. Everything was silent.

"Naruto…?" Sakura broke the silence with a whisper as she looked up, fear for him glistening in her eyes.

"Free yourself," Sasori ordered. While he had been casting his Jutsu, he had also destroyed the poison that had kept him paralyzed.

Naruto jerked his arm outward and the wires snapped. He landed on his feet with a thud. "When...do I get to start killing…Sasori-sama…" he looked up at Sasori, his eyes glowing red for a few moments, before returning to the usual blue.

"Soon, Naruto," he smirked.

"Naruto?" Sakura tried again. She had, by this point, become able to move, but she was, however, in to much shock to break the wires that bound her as she climbed to her feet. "Naruto, it's me, Sakura, are you ok…?"

Naruto whirled around and plunged his fist into her gut. She doubled over as the wind was knocked out of her. He made to grab her by the hair.

"Naruto, stop, we're done here." Sasori turned to Deidara, who dropped a kunai into the ground, releasing the three shinobi he had tied together. "Let's go, we have what we came for." The two Akatsuki started walking and were followed soon after, by a limping Naruto.

Team Hebi was to dumbstruck to even try to stop them. Sasuke blinked twice in an attempt to stop himself from seeing double. His vision returned to normal.

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed hoarsely after him, but he never looked back.

In minutes, Naruto was gone, and it finally struck her to free herself. She quickly ripped through the wires and ran out of the cave, followed by Team Hebi. When they came out, no one was there. There was nothing but snow. The blizzard was coming down heavily. Sakura tried, but she could not sense any chakra signatures. She was brought to her knees and tears burned at her eyes as they fell. "No, no, no, no, this…it's happening again, not again, no, not again…you can't leave me too…not again…NOT AGAIN!"

Her voice echoed. Sasuke's stomach knotted up.

"NARUTO!" she cried. "Naruto…please, come back!" her voice cracked.

"Stop screaming! They're gone! Screaming isn't going to make him come back!" Karin stated. She soon found herself being thrown back into a cold, fluffy cloud of snow.

"You, you shut your MOUTH!" Sakura glared through blurry vision. "You have no idea what it feels like to lose someone you love, to have them leave you, completely abandon you! It's happening again! Again I was unable to do ANYTHING!!!!"

"Sakura-san," Juugo walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

She whirled around and threw her arms around his neck, not caring who it was that was holding her. She sobbed into his shoulder and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her.

Sasuke stared at her, a bit out of it. He didn't completely understand what had just happened. Not until he saw the expression on her face, tinted pink from the cold, and streaked with angry, miserable tears. He recognized her face because he'd seen it once before, when he left Konoha.

Karin stood again, and she and Suigetsu just looked indifferently at the pink haired kunoichi crying in Juugo's arms. Behind their eyes was sympathy.

"I can never do anything…"

* * *

Kisame looked up as the door opened and snow accompanied the entrance of Sasori, Deidara, and…Naruto? "Oi, what the hell is this? You're bringing an outsider to the base …alive?" 

Sasori ignored him as did the other two. It had only been a few hours, and nearly everything that Kisame and Itachi had failed to do for years, had been accomplished.

"Naruto, follow Deidara, he'll show you where you can wrap yourself up before you bleed all over the place." Sasori poured himself a cup of hot tea, most likely left by Itachi, and joined Kisame at the table.

"Hai, Sasori-sama,"

Kisame stared at him. Now that was a bit odd. He watched as the two blonds walked down the hall.

"What the fuck did you do to him?" Kisame questioned, His jaw hanging open dumbly. Sasori smelled the alcohols on his breathe.

"I simply made a new puppet." He stated bluntly, sipping the steaming tea.

"OK, so this is our…infirmary I guess you could call it, so fix yourself up good and put on some new clothes, I think Itachi has an extra set over there that would fit you." He pointed to a tall cabinet in the corner. He watched Naruto limp slightly into the room.

"Hai, Deidara." He shut the door behind him.

"Oh sure, it's _Sasori-sama_ but not _Deidara-sama_, oh no that would just _kill_ him." He muttered as he pushed aside his cloak and shoved his hands into the clay pouches on his thighs. His feet guided him back to the kitchen.

"Hm," Naruto tore the disintegrating bandages form his leg and torso. He didn't even realize that his leg still had a hole in it as he stepped into the bathroom in the back and took a hot shower before re-dressing his wounds. He was rubbing his head with a towel as he walked across the room, clad in only his boxers to find the clothing Deidara had pointed out. The outfit consisted of black ninja shoes, slacks, and a mesh top. It all fit him nicely, as he and Itachi were very similar in size, though Naruto's shoulders were a bit broader. Next, he found a neatly folded Akatsuki cloak. "Heh," he smirked. "I guess this means I'm almost a member,"

He slipped into the cloak and left it unbuttoned. The final touch would be his black fingerless gloves with hidden chakra blades. He took a deep breathe, inhaling the berry scent that radiated from his hair. He had guessed that the shampoo and conditioner he had used belonged to either Deidara or Itachi, as they both had unusually glossy hair. He knelt down to retrieve his kunai pouch from his torn pants and strap it to his thigh.

Naruto exited the room, leaving his bloodied garments on the floor. On his way back down the hallway, he passed an open door, though he paid no attention to it.

He sauntered the kitchen to find four shinobi looking at him. A set of crimson eyes burned into him.

'_Those are my clothes,_' Itachi thought a smidge irritated. He'd only just come back out of his room when he'd herd the familiar voice of the jinchuuriki he'd been chasing for a little over half a decade.

"What do you think? Could I pull off Akatsuki?" he asked, his face twisted in an arrogant expression. When no one answered he turned to Sasori. "Oi, Sasori-sama,"

"Hai,"

"Do you have my head band?" Sasori responded by taking it out of his cloak and tossing it to him. He tied it around his forehead where it belonged.

"Get yourself some food," Sasori gestured toward the fridge with the hand that wasn't holding his tea.

"Gladly, I'm starving this is my first meal in days, Sasuke wasn't good about feeding me and Sakura," Naruto very speedily got two armfuls of food. On the table, he placed six rolls, ten rice balls, and three servings of salmon.

The Akatsuki members, minus Sasori, watched in disgust and curiosity as his human puppet wolfed down their food. He belched and reached across the table for Kisame's sake, finishing it. Kisame did not look kindly on this, as he was just about to drink more of it himself.

"What the hell you little bastard?" he asked.

"Sasori-sama said to feed myself." He responded simply. "Sasori-sama, I'm tired," he looked up.

The old man sighed. "Hai, I'll show you where you're staying."

"Isn't he underage anyway?" Kisame asked the two who remained with him.

"Who cares, we're criminals, if we followed the laws about drinking, Itachi wouldn't have been able to drink until two years ago and you would've been without a drinking partner, Kisame," Deidara pointed out, leaning back in his chair.

"Oh, yea, I wouldn't have been allowed to drink in a bar for…eight years, since I've been stuck with him since he was thirteen," Kisame nodded in agreement.

Itachi rolled his eyes. Deidara hadn't even been in Akatsuki long enough to remember how long he'd been a part of it and Kisame was just annoying him. It agitated him that they both seemed to talk about him like he wasn't there.

* * *

He led him down the corridor once again and opened the door to a very plain room. The walls were white; there was a dresser and a nightstand with a lamp. There was an overhead light that was lacking a light bulb. In the corner was a double bed with crisp white sheets and a baby blue comforter. A single small window was just above the bed, though it was pretty pointless to have as it was frozen and snow was the only sight for miles anyway. He walked in and his bare feet thudded on the hard wood floor. He turned around to face Sasori. 

"Arigatou Sasori-sama," he respectfully bowed his head to the older man. He was in his early sixties, though his wooden body gave him the appearance of his fifteen year old self.

"Go to sleep, we're leaving for Fire Country in the morning and we don't need you slowing us down because you're too tired to keep up."

"Hai, Sasori-sama, I understand." Naruto nodded.

"Good," And with that he left the room, closing the door behind him.

* * *

**A/N: Alright! That's chapter two! OK, well there's actually some plot in this chapter! I'm curious as to how many people wan to know what was on the scroll Itachi got from Sasuke, lol. Also, for those of you wondering what's up with all the flashbacks to Naruto's battle with the female Grass-nin, you'll find out in a few chapters time if not the next one. So, yea, please review!! Constructive criticism is welcome!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Alrighty, chapter this is chapter three! Whoo-hoo!

* * *

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**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Naruto.

* * *

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Sakura wiped her eyes one final time, and lifted her head from where it rested on Juugo's bare chest. Her eyes were jaded.

"Sakura-san, are you ok now?" Juugo asked. He'd been holding her, rather awkwardly, though not completely reluctantly, for nearly an hour, and it was starting to get darker. Behind the snow clouds painted on the canvas that was the sky were streaks of orange faded gently into pinks and then cooled into purple at the thin line where the painter's canvas changed to earth, and the bright colors of the sky reflected off the flawless snow that stretched on, undisturbed as far as the eyes could see.

"Hai, Juugo-san," She untied his black cloak from her shoulders and handed it to him. "I'm not going to need this anymore."

"What are you going to do?" Sasuke questioned. He had his hand against the outer wall of the cave, supporting himself so he would not fall over.

"I'm going back to Konoha," she said, concentrating medical chakra into her hand and placing it on her side. She bit her lip, cringing at the contact with her wound. She had gotten herself back together, and the only sign she had been crying were her bloodshot eyes. "Sasuke,"

"Hn?" he looked at her with a blank expression.

"You, should be going to, seeing as this is all your fault," She didn't expect an answer or for him to just suddenly take on Gai's and Rock Lee's 'Good Guy' pose and scream, 'Yes! I would love to help you, and I shall help you save Naruto, my best friend, because it's all my fault he was taken, and my continually failing plans for revenge can wait!'

"You're not going after him?" Karin asked a little shocked by this. She folded her arms under her chest and cocked her head to the side.

"Oh, I am. I know where they'll be going, but I need to go back to Konoha and regroup." She said. Goosebumps appeared on her skin from the exposure to the cold. "After I go to Konoha, I'm going after Naruto and the Akatsuki, and I'll kill all of those slimy bastards." Karin watched as the holocaust in the eyes of the Haruno girl burned brighter and stronger than it had before. The emerald flames disguised with a hard jade. "Sasuke,"

"Hn?" he looked at her with a blank expression.

"You, should be going to, seeing as this is all your fault," She didn't expect an answer or for him to just suddenly take on Gai's and Rock Lee's 'Good Guy' pose and scream, 'Yes! I would love to help you, and I shall help you save Naruto, my best friend, because it's all my fault he was taken, my continually failing plans for revenge can wait!' merely to look at her quickly and then look away, however he didn't even do that.

"Had I wanted to do something, I could have," he stated.

"As expected from a cold-blooded reptile," she sighed, giving a small smirk.

"When are you leaving?" Juugo swung his cloak back over his shoulders and tied the draw string. The snow that had piled on his shoulders melted with the touch of the cloak, still warm from Sakura's body heat.

"Now," she said. "Unlike you four, I _haven't_ been walking for two days, I was carried, and I'll be fine. Not that I expect you to give a damn." She stretched her arms over her head, and then stretched her stiff legs. She turned to face towards the forest she'd come from. It was almost invisible, hidden by the tiny ice crystals falling from the painted sky. "Goodbye, Sasuke, I'm sorry, but right now, I have more important things to chase after,"

"As if that demon is more important than Sasuke-kun," Karin mumbled, leaning to the right. She pushed her glasses higher on the bridge of her nose.

Instead of retaliating like Karin had expected her to, Sakura stepped forward and took off running. She didn't look back because at that particular moment in time, she didn't care what became of the Uchiha.

"Well, she's gone, now what do we do," Suigetsu asked, holding his cloak tightly around him. "Our plan just failed. How are we going to get Itachi now?"

Sasuke leaned his back against the outer wall of the cave. He was thinking about all of the flaws with in plan. First, he had sent out a scroll to Itachi MUCH to soon, he couldn't even fend off Deidara with the amount of blood he'd lost and the injuries retained from his battle with Naruto. Something he could have easily solved if he'd had the medic-nin he'd been lugging around for two days heal him. Second, he should've considered the possibility that it would _not_ be Itachi who came for the Kyuubi. He'd only assumed that would be the case because he'd always been the one to chase the Kyuubi, and because Naruto had told him of the encounter he'd had with his brother only a few months earlier. Third, he should've picked a bigger cave. He would have been better off being _over_ analytical like he had been when he was younger,

"We're going to follow Sakura." He decided.

"Nani?" Suigetsu asked.

"Why? What's the point of following that bitch?" Karin asked, a little aggravated that she would be following her romantic competition. That's right, she knew about Sakura's crush on _her_ Sasuke-kun.

"Did you not just pay attention to what she told us?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea, that she was going after the Kyuubi container and that she was going to kill the Akatsuki. I honestly don't think she could accomplish either of those goals."

"She said that she knew where they'd be going. She'll lead us to Naruto, which will lead us to the Akatsuki, and they will lead us to Itachi." He stated bluntly.

"She also said she was going to Konoha first, I personally don't want to fight a bunch of ANBU shinobi." Suigetsu crossed his arms.

"We obviously wouldn't get that close to Konoha, baka," Karin said.

"So, we'll use her to find Itachi, and no doubt that would save us a lot of trouble." Juugo concluded, pulling up his hood.

"We'll need to keep a distance from her." Suigetsu pointed out. "So that she wouldn't know we were following her and call a bunch of other Konoha-nin to take us out."

"Well duh," Karin rolled her eyes.

"Be quiet. We'll start after her in a few hours, after dark," Sasuke turned to reenter the cave to rest until the time came that they would leave.

* * *

"Naruto you lazy bastard, get up, we have to leave soon!" Deidara pounded on his door angrily. He was fully clothed, and his cloak was completely buttoned but his head was still wrapped in a white towel to dry his long hair. His golden bangs slipped from under the towel as he rested his forehead against the cool wood. His grip tightened on his headband and he lifted his head, pounding harder on the wood, almost enough so that it would shatter. "God damn it Naruto!"

"Go away Deidara!" He called back in a muffled voice. He held his pillow over his head and slid farther under his blanket.

"Sasori no Danna, he's not fucking listening to me!" Deidara yelled down the hallway in the direction of the puppet master's room.

Sasori put the last of his summoning scrolls in his bag and put it on his shoulders, buckling the chest strap. He rolled his eyes when he heard Deidara. "Naruto, get up," Sasori's agitated voice rang through the hall.

Naruto growled low in his throat and reluctantly forced himself out of bed. He dressed himself once again in Itachi's clothes, buttoning his cloak twice over his chest. He grabbed a comb from the desk in the corner. He was attempting to tame the mass of blonde hair that was horribly knotted on top of his head when he opened the entrance to the room and stepped through the door shoving Deidara aside.

"You should show me some respect you know," Deidara glared at his back, an impression of blue eyes boring into the other man.

"Sasori-sama is the only one I will listen to, I am his puppet, not yours, Deidara. I have no reason to listen to anything you say." Naruto stated. He made his way down the corridor and located a bathroom different then the one he had showered in the day before and entered. It was steamy due to the fact that someone was in the shower. He growled again as he tried to de-knot his hair. "God damn it!" he hollered as he pulled a little too hard on the blonde locks.

"Who the hell is in here?" Kisame's voice thundered from the other side of the shower curtain. He massaged his head under the hot water, washing the berry scented shampoo out of his blue hair. He mentally damned whoever bought the shampoo; it's sent was very annoying.

"Me," Naruto yelled back, frustrated with the mass. It felt like there was a big yellow cat lying on his head that dug its claws into his scalp every time he touched it.

"How the hell am I supposed to know who 'me' is?" he responded loudly. He placed his hand on the wall of the shower leaning on it for support. He had a bad headache.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" he yelled at the tall shadow on the curtain.

"Well get the hell out would you I need to get out of the shower now!" Kisame roared.

"Well you can wait!" he retaliated. His voice took on a more casual tone as he asked the shark like man behind the shower curtain if he knew of any detangling spray anywhere in the base.

He put a hand to his throbbing head and his voice took on a tone similar to the one Naruto had used. "Itachi probably has some, now GET OUT!" his booming voice made the room shake and Naruto scurried out and slammed the door shut, his comb stuck in his hair. He glared at the door and tried to remove the comb from his hair without causing the cat to unsheathe its claws.

"Evil bastard," Naruto mumbled as he continued down the hall. Eventually he came across the door that he remembered had been open the previous day. He pushed it open and found Itachi, minus his cloak, putting his hair in a hair band. It reminded him a lot of how Sakura put her hair in a ponytail. He smirked and licked his lips at the thought of how Sakura's hair would look when he soaked it in her blood.

"Do you want something?" Itachi asked his with his back to the Uzumaki as he threw his cloak over his shoulders, popping the flattened collar.

"I don't suppose you have any detangling spray, my hair is being a bitch," Naruto put his hand up to catch the aluminum bottle that was thrown at him. "Thanks," he soaked his head with it and tossed it back to Itachi. His hair combed out much easier, and he abandoned his comb on the floor of the Uchiha's room.

Itachi glared at the comb that littered his floor. Were it alive, it wouldn't have lived much longer.

"Naruto, come and eat." Sasori ordered as he walked past the younger ninja.

"Hai Sasori-sama." He fell in step with the one he called master. Sasori led him out to the kitchen.

Deidara removed the towel from his head and placed it on the table. He ran a brush through it and put the slightly damp hair into its usual style.

"So, does this mean I have to get up at this ungodly hour every day now? It's still dark out," he vociferated.

"Only on days we travel." said Sasori. "Usually we get up at six if we have a mission, and that only applies to you if _I_ have a mission."

"Six is normal? Then what time is it _now_?" he asked.

"Two," Sasori didn't see the big deal.

"You've got to be kidding me," Naruto fell backwards onto the floor. "How the hell do you manage this?" he had dark circles under his eyes and he closed them, nearly dosing off on the floor. Kisame interrupted his almost cat nap.

"Get up you pain in the ass!" Kisame kicked him in the side.

"GR!" Naruto yelped, rolling over onto his hands and knees and returning to his standing position.

"You think _I_ want to be up? I've got a god damned headache like you would _not_ believe!" Kisame growled. "You're still a kid, you've got endless amounts of energy I would _think_ you would handle it pretty god damn well!"

"People my age prefer to sleep in a lot later then two a.m.," Naruto complained clutching his head.

"When _I_ was your age _I_ would have been fine!" Kisame looked down on Naruto, towering at least a foot over him.

"You probably can't even remember! You're like…how old are you anyway?!"

"I'm gonna squash you, you little-"

"Naruto, back off and leave him alone." Sasori interrupted, cutting off Kisame in the middle of his threat making process.

"Hai, Sasori-sama," Naruto turned around to begin his journey to the refrigerator.

Kisame grinned, triumphantly crossing his massive arms over his chest. Naruto lifted his hand in the air flipped him the bird. Kisame pointed at him accusingly, his face a bit shocked. "Don't you flip me off you little shit!"

Deidara snickered from his place at the table where he sat lazily in his chair.

"Kisame-san, don't get into a fight with a child," Itachi walked passed him, finger combing his bangs.

Kisame glared as he took a deep breathe, counted to ten and exhaled, a little bit more calmed down.

"A child," Naruto took out the quart of milk and drank it from the carton. "You aren't that much older than me, Uchiha,"

"Yes but his maturity far exceeds yours," Sasori commented. "Be quiet and stop aggravating everyone around you."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something but a harsh glare from Sasori shut him up and he sighed in defeat. "Gomenasai, Sasori-sama," He put the empty milk carton back into the fridge and massaged his head as he sat down at the table, thoroughly exhausted.

Within the hour, they were on the move, and the Snow Country Akatsuki base was shut down. They were all carrying packs with the exception of Naruto, as they made their way back the way Naruto had come. Naruto was on Sasori's right and Deidara on his left. Itachi and Kisame were in the front. They were traveling in a larger group under the orders of Leader-sama, who wanted to make sure that the jinchuuriki Uzumaki Naruto actually made it, without fail, to the location where the Kyuubi would be extracted from its host. In the dark, they had no light, but instead followed Itachi's chakra signature, whose night vision was greatly enhanced by his sharingan. They would make it to the Fire Country base by nightfall, and would sleep for the night to replenish their energy.

Naruto briefly wondered how they would manage a two day trip in that limited amount of time, but then it hit him that these were Akatsuki, and they traveled _fast_, not to mention they probably didn't take breaks. He sighed and continued to jump through the trees following his master.

* * *

"Oi! Sasuke! Are we ever going to stop?" Suigetsu was answered with silence as his leader continued to follow Sakura.

Sasuke kept his eyes focused on the path in front of him.

She'd…changed. Since that day he left her on the bench near the entrance of Konoha. She was harder, and stronger. That was something he never expected of her.

He was struggling to keep his eyes open and his thoughts were melting together in his head. His crimson irises glowed under heavy eyelids.

* * *

'_Naruto, don't worry, I'll be there with you soon, I just need to go back to Konoha and rest, but then I'll come after you, until then, stay safe,_' she was sending him a mental message that he would not receive. She balled her hands into fists in her lap. Sakura had stopped to take a quick break in a high branch of a tree. She took a deep breathe and exhaled.

She got to her feet and angled her body to face the direction in which she was traveling.

* * *

Sasuke started to cough and his eyelids got heavier. He made to lunge to the next branch, and slipped on the ice frozen to the bark of the branch he currently resided on.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin yelled.

With lightening speed Sakura turned on her heel and she launched herself into the air, catching the back of his shirt, his nose was an inch from the ground. She dragged him over to a more sheltered area under a tall tree and set him back down.

"Sasuke-kun,"

"Sasuke-sama," Juugo landed just after Karin and Suigetsu.

"Is he ok?" Suigetsu asked. Sakura nodded.

"He wore himself out. He's lost to much blood and hasn't properly rested." She set him down and rolled him over. He was coughing heavily and she turned his head to the side so as not to choke him.

"Did you know we were following you?" Suigetsu asked, already knowing the answer.

"I was resting in a tree for a few minutes and I picked up your chakra signatures. Were you even _trying_ to disguise them?" she asked, moving her hand over the Uchiha's body.

"No,"

'_Yes,_'

"Ugh, let go of me," Sasuke came to and tried to get up, but she pushed him back down.

"You're gonna kill yourself you idiot, now hold still so I can heal you." She ordered.

Sasuke didn't fight her. He was too weak just then anyway.

Sakura took out a kunai and sliced his bandages from him. It didn't take much effort, as they were soggy with blood. She pulled a cloth from the pouch strapped to her waist and wet it with a water bottle.

'_She's definitely more powerful then Sasuke-kun made her out to be,_' Karin noted. He'd briefed them on his two former teammates at one point. Naruto was stupid, but he was somewhat powerful when he put his mind to it. His main technique was Rasengan. Sakura's strongest point was her mind; however she usually just stood there and cried unless there was no one left to do the fighting for her, and even then was still pathetic. She'd apparently picked up some medical techniques, but they were not to overestimate her or Naruto. He'd gotten it backwards, they shouldn't have _under_estimated them.

In about ten minutes, he was patched up quite a bit, and there was fresh gauze binding his wounds. "Why are you doing this Sakura," he looked up at her from behind his emotionless mask as she tied off the bandages on his chest.

"Don't mistake this for an act of kindness, Uchiha. I took an oath and it's my duty as a medic to help those in need." she said removing her medical gloves and putting her supplies back into her kit. It was against her better judgment to leave them out in the woods; so, she wasn't planning on it. She'd kill four birds with one stone. "Now you need to rest. I'm gonna to keep going, but you need to stay off your feet, Sasuke. If you wish to follow me, I recommend you be carried, I won't be there to catch you _every_ time you fall," '_I _can't_ be there to catch you every time you fall, because this time, it's Naruto who needs to be caught, before he falls beyond my reach,_'

"I don't need to be carried," he slowly got to his feet and nearly fell back down when he started to see double. But, before he did, Sakura caught him again.

"Yes, you do," she stated. Sakura let him go and he leaned against the tree. "I'm leaving, follow me if you wish. However if you plan to follow me in secret, Put some effort into it," She pushed her bangs out of her face. "Don't underestimate me," she launched herself back into the trees, it wasn't long before she heard three sets of footsteps following her.

Juugo had Sasuke on his back, and it wouldn't take long for the Uchiha to fall asleep. Good, now she could kill three birds with one stone, three birds and one slimy snake.

* * *

It was about six thirty in the morning. Naruto was very ready to pass out. His eyes were held open only by the oncoming wind generated by the speed he was traveling at. He now understood why Itachi had lines on his face; it was because he was always so god damned tired from getting up at all hours of the morning and then promenading through the forest without rest. At this rate, he'd have lines on his face too. Permanent dark circles. "Sasori-sama,"

"Be quiet Naruto. It won't be long, if you can keep up and keep quiet, I'll let you kill," Sasori informed him.

Blood lust ignited in his eyes and his tongue was practically lolling out of the side of his mouth. "How many will I get to kill, Sasori-sama?"

"You'll find out when the time comes." He smiled.

"Hai, Sasori-sama," Naruto grinned. It was a smile that would have scared the life out of any small child. He wanted to see red, dark red, and he wanted to see it ooze painfully out of a wound that he'd personally inflicted upon someone, he wanted to watch them bleed and suffer and die a slow and painful death. '_I want it to be a sweet little fighter, a girl, one who will fight, but she won't get away, and I'll slash her, and she'll bleed out,_'

Sasori was completely aware of the thoughts that were running through the head of his new human puppet. '_I've created a monster…perfect,_' he smirked.

Itachi kept his vision on the path ahead. He did not like what Sasori had done. He did not like being undermined. He did not like being deemed to incompetent to handle the Kyuubi's capture. He did _not_ like being out done. He did, however, like the thought that he would get to watch Sasori fail. He knew Sasori would fail, and he was just waiting for it to happen.

Traveling with the Akatsuki was rather boring, they didn't talk much at all. No one said anything exciting when they did. They did not stop, they just continued on their expedition. If one person stopped, the rest of the group would just keep going. The only time they all stopped, was to fight. This was a rare occasion, because not many shinobi were ballsy enough to just stroll up to an Akatsuki and expect to win. Naruto was disappointed by this, and so he just imagined his first kill within the confines of his mind. He was very repetitive with his thoughts. He had only once considered violating his victim, but he didn't care for that kind of thing. His lust was focused on blood.

Several hours passed before snow melted to rain and darkness dissipated. Around noon, the rain stopped. The sky canvas was blue with splotches of white here and there. One bright gold drop of paint hung directly overhead, beautiful to look at but painful at the same time. It didn't feel like long before the gold drop of paint sunk down and disappeared. The sky canvas turned black, with one fluorescent sliver of white. It had craters of yellow on its surface. It radiated off a glow, and just beyond the reach of its light, were small speckles of white paint. They flickered like tiny flames were burning overhead.

The group of shinobi could see a house coming into view, a house just in front of a massive pillar of stone, moonlight shown gently on the features of the two structures, illuminating them. Feet padded on the ground after they silently jumped down from the trees. Konoha was not far from their location, maybe a half a day's trip by Akatsuki terms.

Naruto soundlessly sauntered to the entrance of the house following the four Akatsuki. When he entered he saw the tallest of them take a sharp left and escape his view. Rusty hinges creaked, and he heard switches flick on. The hand of his master reached to the right and turned on an over head light. The layout of this base was different from the other. There was one large room with a long table that could seat at least twelve and was centered almost exactly, and all along the walls were open doors with staircases behind them. Three of the doors had signs on them. One read 'Kitchen' and the other two 'Bathroom' and 'Infirmary'.

Itachi stalked off to one of the doors that did not say anything on it. He shut the door behind him and his footsteps were heard clunking up the stairs. Kisame and Deidara each went to separate doors from Itachi and from each other. Sasori pointed to one of the doors and then went to his own.

Naruto figured he had been pointing to his room and so he went to the door. He closed it behind him and made his way up the long staircase to find a room much larger in comparison to his quarters at the snow base, but with nearly the same accommodations. A bed, a desk, a dresser, and this time a mirror. To his left was a door that read, 'Bathroom'. He dropped his cloak carelessly on the floor and opened the dresser, to find flannel pants and an oversized T-shirt. He wondered briefly if Akatsuki had uniform sleeping clothes like they had uniform…well, everything. He changed and reentered the main room traveling to the kitchen, in which he found Cup Ramen. Cold-hearted or not, it was still his favorite. He filled one with water and stuck it in the microwave. He plopped himself in a spot on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Deidara asked as he came into the mahogany kitchen. He was in flannel pants similar to Naruto's own, but sporting a shirtless look. His right arm was heavily scared and his left looked like it was sewn on.

"Getting food," He stated, back to his ANBU monotone.

"Who says you're even allowed to eat our food?"

"No one said I can't." he picked at a hang nail on his thumb and it started to bleed. He was sent into what could be described as a trance. "Heh, blood, red blood," he stared at it as it slid down his skin, the warm liquid leaving a pink trail.

"Does blood have any other color? Suck on it," Deidara stated while getting his own meal, in the form of a box of rice that said in big red letters 'Add Water'. He poured it like cereal into a bowl and turned on the sink, letting the water run for a few seconds before adding it to his rice bowl. He looked down to find Naruto rubbing his blood between his fingers with the utmost interest. "Oi, Naruto,"

"What, Deidara," he asked, though he didn't really care.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked waiting for his turn to use the microwave.

Naruto's eyes flickered with disappointment when his thumb stopped bleeding. He licked his fingers clean and stood up, looking at Deidara with almost a need to see more of the sticky red substance. The soft humming of the microwave stopped when it started to beep. He retrieved his Ramen and left the kitchen to sit at the table.

"What in Satan's name," he shook his head and put his own instant meal into the microwave. He'd have to ask Sasori about that later. It almost made his skin crawl. But it didn't. "Talk about blood lust."

Naruto was eating his Roast Beef flavored Cup Ramen slowly so as not to immediately wash away the metallic taste in his mouth.

Deidara joined him a few minutes later, taking a place on the table instead of a chair. He played with his chopsticks, pushing small pieces of rice from one side of his bowl to the other before eating it.

It was slightly awkward between the two blonds. There was nothing to say. For a brief minute Deidara tried to think of ways to start a conversation, but the only thing that came to mind to discuss was why Naruto referred to Sasori as 'Sasori-sama' and Deidara referred to him as 'Sasori no Danna'. He quickly dropped the idea.

"You guys need to get more food," Naruto broke the silence. "This Ramen is kind of crappy."

"We don't stay in one place for to long so it doesn't make a difference." Deidara informed him. "That's why we have crappy food and lots of sake." He added.

"Great." Naruto sighed, the taste of blood was nearly gone. "Sasori-sama,"

"What," Sasori who had just opened his door responded. He was clad in the same outfit as Naruto. The Akatsuki really did have uniform pajamas.

"When do I get to start killing, I want to see blood, red blood,"

"Soon, be patient," Sasori ordered as he went into the kitchen and returned with tea.

"Well it had better be soon," Naruto smirked, downing his Ramen broth in one gulp.

"After we extract the Kyuubi, I'll let you slaughter a few people."

"When are you going to take out the Kyuubi? You'd better not use the same Jutsu as you used on Gaara, I will not die," Naruto stated. "I want to see it destroy,"

"Don't worry; we will not use the same jutsu as on Gaara of the Desert." Sasori assured him. "It will hurt you, but it will not kill you."

"Will there be blood?" he asked.

"No, there will not." He watched as his puppet's face phased to a look of disappointment.

"Well I'm going to bed, please do not wake me up anytime before noon," Naruto stood and faced Sasori, he bowed. "Goodnight, Sasori-sama," he straightened up. "Deidara,"

Deidara nodded and watched the young shinobi leave the room and close his door behind him. He listened to his feet thump on the steps as he made his way upstairs and waited until he was a safe distance away before he spoke. "Sasori no Danna,"

"What, Deidara," he looked at the other man expectantly.

"Earlier, Naruto's thumb started to bleed,"

"So what, people bleed,"

"I'm not finished yet," he closed his eyes and held his rice bowl in his lap. "He acted like he was sent into a trance. He seemed fixated on the blood,"

"When he's in this state, he'll have a distinct urge to kill, and to see blood." Sasori laced his fingers on the table. "It is similar to your distinct need to watch things blow up."

"Yes, but my explosions are beautiful works of art that are there and gone again in mere minutes." Deidara pointed out knowingly.

Sasori sighed. He did not feel like ensuing the usual argument about the definition of art that always took place when he and Deidara ran out of other things to discuss. He was exhausted. Using the Jakyou Chuushin Jutsu was hard on him. To actually enter the mind of another being, split their heart in two, and then to maintain only one half, was a huge strain on him. Not to mention, he'd gotten only a few hours to sleep and recover from using said jutsu, before condensing a two day trip into less then twenty four hours. He was burnt-out to say the least. He took one final sip of his tea before he stood. "I'm going to bed, do not wake me unless necessary."

Deidara watched as Sasori left the room. He was left to eat his rice in peace, or at least until Kisame decided he needed an unhealthy dose of sake. He looked down and noticed that the old puppet master had left a half-full cup of steaming green tea on the table for him to clean up. Naruto's empty Cup Ramen was also waiting for him. He groaned in agitation and shoved a ball of rice into his mouth.

* * *

_Zen-Naruto groaned and rubbed his head. He shifted his shoulders and noticed that there was a blanket over him. He opened his eyes and his double-vision returned to normal. Twelve year old Sakura and Sasuke were sitting beside him. "What the hell happened to me?"_

"_Naruto," Sakura threw her arms around his neck when he sat up. She was crying._

"_Heh, Sakura," he smiled softly and put an arm around her. He looked up more seriously at the boy in front of him. "Sasuke, what happened?"_

"_Sasori, he came and he, he split you in half," his voice cracked and he cleared his throat._

"_Hn," Zen-Naruto sighed. "Where is everyone else?" he asked, noticing the bystanders from earlier were gone._

"_It's been two days, he came back and was attacking the village, and Kakashi told us to stay here with you." Sasuke informed him._

"_I see," he looked down at the ground. "If he came back, then he had to have left, which means that he would have been in control of my, unh, of _our_ body," He was concerned about that, he had no way of knowing what damage his other half could have caused by now._

"_Naruto," Sakura pulled away from him. "I'm scared,"_

"_It'll be fine," he assured her. He looked around. The once green grass in the field was starting to turn brown, and the clouds in the sky were becoming larger. He knotted his eyebrows. "Something's happening in the village,"_

_The trio ran to the location in question and saw Ashi-Naruto fighting with eighteen year old Gaara. Ashi-Naruto looked completely psychotic as he slashed at Gaara with a kunai. The sand-nin was fending off the attacker while the other strong shinobi ushered the weaker of Naruto's loved ones out of harms way._

"_Naruto, Gaara's in trouble," Sakura clung to him._

"_What?" Naruto's eyes widened as Gaara's chakra infused sand began to rise from the ground to block Ashi-Naruto's kunai, but the swift movement of Ashi-Naruto's hand forced it back down and the kunai gashed Gaara's torso. "ARGH!" _

_Zen-Naruto cried out as a sharp pain shot through his own abdominals._

"_Naruto!" Sakura looked at him in horror._

"_You two need to get the hell out of here, now," Zen-Naruto ordered._

"_Why?" Sasuke asked, looking angry that he'd even suggest such a thing._

"_If it hurts this much when Gaara gets injured...you two are the closest people to me, if either of you get hurt, it'll kill me," he put his hands together and closed his eyes. If Ashi-Naruto could control the jutsus of others in their mind, then so could he._

_Gaara's sand became effective._

"_Then we just won't get hurt," Sasuke argued._

"_It's his mind too, Sasuke, he can control what happens in here, your attacks will be useless. Now _go_!" he thrust his hand forward and Gaara's sand shaved the skin on the side of Ashi-Naruto's body. Gaara's face had a smirk plastered on it._

"_Son of a bitch!" Ashi-Naruto whirled around and ran at Zen-Naruto, fuming and bleeding from his side, the sand had cut through his black shirt and sand was stuck into his injury, painfully grinding in his wound as he moved._

_Sasuke reluctantly turned on his heel and took off running. Sakura took one more look at Zen-Naruto before following the Uchiha._

_Ashi-Naruto cackled as he made to stab Zen-Naruto with his kunai. Zen-Naruto unsheathed the hidden blades on his gloves and sliced skin from the same spot Gaara's sand had hit, his hand barely touched the skin of his other half._

_Ashi-Naruto roared in anger. He'd felt something sting in his chest when Zen-Naruto made contact with him. He clasped his hands together and brought his combined fists down on Zen-Naruto's head.

* * *

_

"AAHHH!" Naruto's scream pierced the air. His hands clutched his right side he attempted to get out of his bed and stand. His feet got tangled in the sheets and he fell hard onto the floor. Blood was pouring from the wound on his side. He removed his shirt and pressed it against the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. His attention became fixated solely on the serum flowing from him. He started to laugh.

Four Akatsuki members burst through the door and into his room. "Naruto, what happened," Sasori asked. His face was unconcerned, he probably already knew the answer to the question he had asked, or he just didn't give a damn.

"Bastard got me good," he removed one of his bloodied hands from his side and stared at the shining substance that coated it excitedly.

"What the fuck is going on here, Sasori?" Kisame asked rather annoyed that he'd been woken up.

"I take it this is the work of your other half," Sasori said calmly.

"Yea, ha, you should have seen the way Sasuke and Sakura ran away, stupid little kids." He gritted his teeth, wincing as two separate, but sharp pains surged through his side and then through his heart.

"What is he talking about," Itachi asked, his interest perked by the sound of his little brother's name.

"In his mind, as well as any of yours, the people he holds dear to him have manifested themselves. That's what he means."

"I don't like my blood as much as other peoples, it hurts when I bleed," the injured shinobi mumbled to himself. He made a mental note to keep his own bleeding to a minimal. This only furthered his urge to see another human being bleed.

"Naruto, go fix yourself up," Sasori turned to leave the room, followed by Deidara and Kisame. Itachi had left when his question had been answered.

"Hai Sasori-sama," Naruto freed himself from the sheets and stumbled down the stairs, leaving numerous bloody hand prints on the wall and railing he leaned against for support. He almost tripped on the bottom step, but he caught himself just in time to prevent himself from hitting the ground.

Kisame watched him in annoyance while downing the sake he had retrieved from the kitchen. His eyes followed him as he stumbled from his door and to the door that read 'Infirmary'.

"Ah," he groaned. Naruto got into the infirmary and located some bandages to dress his wound. While he was cleaning it out, he felt another sharp pang, again in his chest. "What the fuck?"

After Zen-Naruto had made physical contact with him in his mind he felt numerous sharp pains, he didn't know quite what that meant. His other half must have somehow given him this feeling. It was a feeling of…need, he needed to attach himself to something. He didn't plan on telling Sasori, however, because he didn't need the old puppet master going into his mind again. It gave him a migraine when the man entered his mind. He didn't much want to be split him again, because it did feel very much like he was, quite literally, being ripped in half. Said feeling was only temporary, but he didn't enjoy it.

'_I'll just find something to attach myself to, and then, when I am able to cut the attachment, I'll destroy it._' He nodded, seeming satisfied with this decision. But what would he attach himself to? It would most likely have to be living, and not an Akatsuki, hell no. He wouldn't be able to get rid of one of them very easily. He let out aggravated sigh. This was going to be a pain in the ass.

For now, he decided he'd just deal with the constant pains in his heart. "Fuck," he cursed as he touched his side with a little to much force. He tried to occupy his mind with the thoughts of what would be taking place not tomorrow but the day after.

In two days, the Kyuubi would no longer be sealed inside him. '_So you're just going to let them take me out, just like that? You little bastard,_' Naruto smirked.

* * *

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun! So, yea, there's some weird stuff going on in Naruto's head! No surprise there. Sakura will (hopefully, most likely) be arriving in Konoha next chapter. Also, the person talking at the end, (if you don't already see this) is Kyuubi talking to Naruto. Umm, I don't really have much else to add. Constructive criticism is welcome. Review please and tell me what you think!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: At last she updates! Ok, so in this chapter, I didn't put any fight scenes, just a few bickering matches here and there. So I hope it doesn't suck. Thanks for reading, I hope you like it! 

* * *

**

"Leader-sama," Sasori momentarily bowed his head to the hologram of his leader that stood before him. The image was flickering with a slight hum.

"Sasori, I hear that your mission was successful, did you in fact capture the Kyuubi container and bring it to the Fire Base?" he asked, looking at his hands with apparent interest as he cracked his knuckles.

"Hai, Leader-sama," he smiled triumphantly for a split second. "Uzumaki Naruto is asleep in a room. He's perfectly willing to give up the Kyuubi, and is under my control." The old puppeteer watched his leader's lips curl into a smile.

"Good," he chuckled. "Then we will proceed to extract the Kyuubi tonight, after you have recovered from your jutsu. Send Itachi and Kisame out to scout out any thing that may interfere with the process." He sighed and looked at his hands again, this time with less enthusiasm.

Sasori watched him a tad unnerved by his silence. The cold, green ringed eyes of the man were striking against his black form. His gaze fell harshly on Sasori.

"Don't let him go, Sasori," his illusion faded and the room was dark.

Sasori cleared his throat and turned to leave his room. A night had passed. Naruto, as expected, was still asleep. It was around eleven in the morning. The sun had risen high above the trees that surrounded the base, nearly halfway through its journey to the other side of the sky. It was quite warm outside, as well as in. There were not many windows in the base, something that was not unusual for a home to S-class criminals.

The incident that had occurred the night before had been forgotten. Naruto odd dream/mental conflict was just a small thought in the backs of the Akatsuki minds.

Leader-sama had given Sasori a message to pass on to Itachi and Kisame. He entered the main room where the two Akatsuki members he was looking for, plus Deidara, were located. 

Kisame was impatiently pacing back and fourth across the floor, holding his Samehada over his shoulder. He was very bored. His shark-like face was in a frustrated expression and his sharp pearl teeth were grinding against each other. It was a habit he'd picked up in his early years as a shinobi, when he was a Genin in the hidden mist. During the large and long lasting wars between the five great shinobi nations. It'd bee in a battle against Suna. It was his mission to sneak into a sand base, alone, and assassinate a strong Jounin commander. Grinding his teeth had calmed him down.

He now did this every time he was bored, frustrated, or any number of things. He'd nick-named the habit, 'sharpening his fangs'.

Deidara was molding something out of clay with his hands. It vaguely resembled the beginnings of a pot. Sometimes he sold explosive pottery in towns. This had many purposes, sometimes it was for his own personal amusement, and other times it was to collect information and then destroy the evidence. He would slip them into a store in a place where a random civilian or a target would buy it. He would then follow the buyer to their home were he would collect his information (or wait for more victims to enter the room) and detonate the pottery.

Itachi was sitting in his chair, tapping his toes on the floor. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, both feet, right foot, left foot. Though he tried to hide it, he was itching for a mission.

"Kisame-san, Itachi-san," the two of them looked up while continuing with their previous activities.

"What Sasori?" Kisame asked, glaring. Itachi asked the same question with his eyes.

"Leader-sama wishes for you to go scout out the extraction site." Sasori stated.

"Why the hell couldn't he tell us himself?" Kisame asked.

"Perhaps he found it faster to convey the message through me," Sasori mused, shrugging his shoulders.

"This is getting ridiculous," he shook his head. "Come on Itachi, let's go,"

The Uchiha stood from his seat, inwardly thankful that he could do something other then sit on his ass all day. Outwardly, his face held an expression of annoyance. He did not want to follow orders being given by Sasori. It frustrated him slightly. Suddenly he was being knocked out of his place. Sasori was becoming Leader-sama's favorite. It irked him that Pein had seemingly given the ex-Suna shinobi authority over him.

"Oi, Sasori no Danna," Deidara started, all the while watching Itachi's face. He saw the Uchiha's eyes flash green again. "What about me? Do I have a mission?"

"No, Deidara-san, you and I are to stay here and guard the Jinchuuriki." He informed, sitting at the table with a kunai and a small block of wood.

"Great," he growled, his head sinking behind the collar of his cloak so only his eyes were visible. He raised an eyebrow. '_I wonder if this makes me look more evil…_' he blinked, mentally kicking himself for having such a dumb thought.

"We'll be back later," Itachi spoke monotonously. The two of them stepped outside the base, the bright Fire Country sun stinging their eyes. They'd been stationed in snow for a long time. Their eyes had grown used to seeing the sun blotted by the snow clouds. Fire Country was too bright.

"Well, let's get the hell out of here," Kisame leapt into the air, followed by his younger partner.

* * *

"Sakura," Suigetsu called up ahead. His leader was still unconscious on Juugo's back, and so he turned to Sakura, since she was the one leading the way.

"What," she replied coldly, squinting at the burning sun in her eyes. She spat on the ground.

"How far until we reach Konoha?" he asked.

"A few hours yet," she answered, putting up her hand to visor her eyes. When she landed on the next branch she did not jump to a new one. Instead she remained stationary, feeling the need to rest. Team Hebi also stopped, and they watched her land on the ground, where she found a comfortable spot on a patch of moss growing at the base of an old tree. Its bark was covered in fungus, it was probably dieing. They followed her lead. 

Juugo set Sasuke down on the ground and he shifted slightly in his sleep.

"About time we took a break," Karin pulled a nearly empty water bottle from her pack.

"What's the matter, this to much for you to handle?" Sakura asked, her eyes were closed and she was gently massaging her calves.

Karin's face turned red. She was panting, unlike the Haruno girl. She was also sweating. Sakura was not, or at least not enough for it to be visible. '_She's to perfect!_' the red head growled low in her throat. "Hardly," she snorted, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and plopping on the ground. 

Sakura took out her own water bottle from a pouch on her waist and took a drink. The cold water made her teeth ache, but it tasted good. An idea struck her and she decided to follow through with it. She squirted some water onto Sasuke's face. He jerked upright, glaring at her. His chest was rising slightly faster then normal. She smirked. Her plan had been successful. She'd just scared the crap out of him.

He cringed a bit, rubbing his stomach. "I'm glad to see you're awake, Sasuke-kun," Karin moved closer, and leaned up against him. He pushed her away.

"Go away Karin," his glare never left Sakura.

Karin's own eyes flickered to Sakura angrily. She was making her very frustrated.

She looked up at the red-head and stuck out her tongue. Karin clenched her fists in her lap. Sakura inwardly laughed. It was so easy to ruffle her feathers. It reminded her a lot of her younger self. 

She blinked and her inner pounded her head at the sudden realization while screaming something about how she would kill herself if that were true.

It was then that Karin decided that she would destroy Sakura. She would watch her closely and find her greatest weakness. When that pink haired bitch least expected it, she would shatter her into a million pieces. 

Suigetsu watched the exchange between Sakura and Karin and could only imagine the childish thoughts running through the head of his only female teammate. "Karin, give it a rest," he smirked at her.

"Don't talk to me Suigetsu," she snapped. Her eyes followed Sakura's movements as she squeezed her water bottle over her head, soaking her scalp and cooling herself down.

"That's hot," Suigetsu commented, licking his lips as he watched water trickle down the face of the powerful ANBU kunoichi.

"Would you stop talking already?" Karin turned to him.

"What?" he asked innocently "Why are you so weird about Sakura, anyway? It's not like she got as far as y-"

Slap. The liquid man melted down when Karin's hand splashed his head away. "Shut, up!"

He snickered. "I should think you'd be proud of yours-" Slap.

"Be quiet, both of you." Sasuke ordered. They reluctantly obeyed.

Sakura shook her head. So, that's why Karin was after him, she wanted more of what she already had. She couldn't help but feel a little hurt when she gained this knowledge of Sasuke's…experience. He didn't seem to be too proud of it though. She wouldn't be either, she supposed.

Her mind drifted to Naruto. Was he okay? Were they hurting him? What was going on? They weren't going to wait long to take Kyuubi, she knew that much. They would probably do it tomorrow, or even that night. Then what would become of him? She got to her feet. "I'm going."

Sasuke sighed. He stood, rather uncomfortably, and avoided cringing at the sharp pains running through him.

"We're leaving to?" Karin asked.

"Yes." He said, taking a drink from his water bottle and wiping his face on his sleeve.

"No, you need to stay here; after all, if you get any closer ANBU will be all over you. I'll be back in a short amount of time anyway." Though she hated to admit it, she didn't want Sasuke to die. She did feel something for him, it wasn't love. She saw him more as a pesky little brother who was always causing trouble. Either way, many of the other ANBU would kill him on sight, so she decided that she would only tell them he was there when she could accompany them. At least then he wouldn't die. Take a beating, sure. In fact she'd be glad to help in that aspect, she didn't get much of a chance before. She'd had to fend off Team Hebi while Naruto attacked Sasuke. "I'll see you soon, Sasuke-_kun_,"

"Miss you already," Suigetsu grinned. His eyes followed her as she left them.

Sakura started to walk. There was no need to run at this point, they weren't that far. She'd told Suigetsu it was a few hours, but she had actually over exaggerated. She needed to keep them thinking that they were at a safe distance away from Konoha.

'_She's trying to do something,_' Sasuke took up his brooding/thinking pose and closed his eyes. He figured she was trying to get them captured.

* * *

Sakura put two fingers to her mouth. A silent whistle escaped her lips. Only trained ears could pick up such a sound. She heard four more reply to her. She proceeded forward, three hundred meters and she would reach the village, by whistling, she'd identified herself.

She reached the gates to her home, and entered. She wasn't supposed to come back from this mission like this, alone. Not even Naruto was with her.

Naruto, right. She needed to stop feeling sorry for herself and go prepare for a long mission. She wasn't going to let him go, too. No, this time, she was going to do something. She quickly made her way to her apartment, well, Naruto's apartment.

Her parents told her that since she was eighteen, and ANBU, she shouldn't be living with them anymore. So, she'd moved in with Naruto. Just as roommates, though some had tried to imply otherwise. Her room had once been a living room, but Naruto had gladly moved his things out of it so she could stay with him.

This was, of course, after he'd offered to let her sleep in his bed, and she'd knocked him unconscious for several hours. She smiled softly to herself as she entered.

She had to be quick, she would get her things, tell Tsunade what was going on, have some other ANBU take care of Team Hebi, and go to find Naruto.

She hadn't been lying when she'd told Sasuke that she knew where the extraction site was, she'd personally destroyed it once already, after Gaara's Jinchuuriki was stolen. However, she'd gone back yearly and soon discovered that the shattered cave had, miraculously, been replaced. 

She went into her room, emptied her bag of the supplies used for the mission she'd just completed, and packed some new clothes. Mostly just her spare ANBU outfit occupied the bag. Her personal hygiene pack was underneath it. She thought for a minute. What else?

Her feet guided her to Naruto's room, and she went to his dresser and took his spare outfit, along with two others. One was his favorite shirt, it was a baggy black T-shirt that was worn over a mesh top with elbow length sleeves, and black Jounin pants. The other was another mesh top, with black shorts and an orange jacket.

She shoved his clothes into her pack, restocked her weapons supplies, grabbed two cloaks, and her extra mask. (She'd abandoned her other in the forest somewhere during the fight she'd had a few days ago)

"I just have to tell Tsunade-shisou and I'll come for you, Naruto," she said. Sakura locked the door to their apartment.

* * *

"Follow her," Sasuke stated. He'd just summoned a snake, minutes after Sakura had left. "If she sends anyone after us, come back." The snake nodded with a hiss and slithered off.

* * *

"Tsunade-shisou, I'll be going now," Sakura bowed and set off to leave. She'd just informed her master of the situation, and handed over the information gathered from the grass-nin.

'This is not good,' Tsunade shook her head and glared at the door as Sakura closed it. This is just what she needed. Naruto was gone, captured by Akatsuki no less. The Kyuubi was going to be unsealed. Sasuke and his team of fugitives were a half an hour from the village, and Sakura was leaving to go after Naruto.

Sakura had become her surrogate daughter, just like Shizune had become her niece. Sakura was leaving, by herself. Tsunade wanted to give her a team of the most able bodied shinobi to take with her and protect her, but she knew and had known that Sakura would never agree. This was a sensitive matter.

* * *

"_Tsunade-shisou," Sakura stepped into the room that was her master's office._

"_Yes, Sakura, I'm glad to see you're back…" she could sense something was very wrong. Sakura's eyes could hide many things from many people, but she was like a young Tsunade. So the original, naturally, could read her easily. "Where's Naruto,"_

"_Naruto…" she sighed. "We completed our mission, we both extracted information from the deceased grass shinobi."_

"_Sakura,"_

"_We had heard rumors that Sasuke and his team were near the border, and so we decided that it wouldn't hurt to check, just in case," she smiled. "Heh, I'm sorry for not informing you of our ulterior motive for accepting the mission,"_

"_Sakura, where,"_

"_He was at the border," at this Tsunade's attention doubled. "Naruto fought him, I fended off his teammates. We did rather well. But, Sasuke summoned a snake that swallowed up Naruto. He came after me. I was tired after the many battles that had ensued that day."_

"_Sakura, where is-."_

"_He blew up the snake, he saved me, and they took us to the border of Snow. They held us there. You see we were paralyzed from a jutsu that was performed on Naruto by a dying Grass kunoichi. Sasuke used Naruto as bait to lure Itachi,"_

'Itachi?_' this did not sound good. What had happened to Naruto?_

"_Only, Itachi didn't come, it was Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara,"_

"_Nani?" They were supposed to be dead._

"_They took Naruto, Sasuke tried to stop them but he was to injured from his fight with Naruto." She was talking slowly, sure to avoid letting any of her anger or misery slip out with her words. "Sasori, performed a Jutsu on him, I don't know what it was, I've never seen anything like it, but…he turned Naruto. He made him…dark…"_

"_Sakura, tell me where he-"_

"_He went with them, willingly, no one stopped him, I couldn't do anything," she said._

"_So he's with Akatsuki?"_

"_H-hai," she took a deep breathe. "I'm going back out, Shisou. I'm going back out to find him."_

"_What became of Team Hebi?" Tsunade took out a blank scroll from her desk. Sakura took it and opened it knowingly._

"_They are a half hour away from the village, waiting for me to lead them to the Akatsuki," She made a few seals and pressed her finger tips onto the paper. Ink spread from her skin and outlined a detailed sketch of the grass-nin she'd defeated. Their physical information was shown. _

"_Where Itachi is," Sakura nodded to her. "I will send a team of ANBU after him, and then I will send a team with you to get Naruto." She watched as the medical ninja finished filling the scroll with information._

"_No," She rolled up the scroll and lifted it in her hands._

"_What?" she raised an eyebrow._

"_I don't want a team, I can handle this myself. I owe it to him after everything he's done for me, to save him."_

"_You need to be smart about this Sakura," Tsunade put in. "If Naruto is in fact dark like you say, _and_ with Akatsuki, it would not be smart to go out there all on your own,"_

"_I don't need help Shisou. I will not take a team." She stated. "And you do not need to send a team after Sasuke either. I will deal with him."_

"_Are you sure?" Her pink haired apprentice nodded to her. She was not going to argue with her. She'd trained her well. She'd be fine. Sakura was _her_ apprentice after all. "Ok, however you should stop by the hospital and get yourself checked out. I'd do it myself if I wasn't so damn busy with paperwork." She gestured to the mountains on her desk._

"_I don't need to."_

"_It wasn't a suggestion. That was an order Sakura, now go." She glared playfully at the young girl. Sakura nodded._

"_Tsunade-shisou, I'll be going now," She handed Tsunade the scroll. 

* * *

_

Sakura wanted to do this on her own. She needed to do it on her own.

"Good Luck Sakura." Tsunade told her, though she would not hear.

* * *

Itachi entered the cave noiselessly. It was, as expected, dark inside. He'd left Kisame to check the outer walls. He turned to his left and performed a quick fire jutsu, the flames caught a torch. Simultaneously, several other torches that covered the inner walls of the cave lit, one at a time. They were all uniform distance apart. 

When the entire space was lit, Itachi saw the all too familiar pillars of stone on which the Akatsuki used to stand for three days to forcefully and painfully remove demons from their hosts. This method had been stopped after a few years, as a quicker way was discovered, one that took much less of a toll on the body. 

The Jutsu now took but one hour, and only killed the host if one of they all _accidentally_ focused to hard and the container's veins _accidentally_ popped. It was _always_ an _accident_ of course that they _all_ concentrated to hard at the _exact_ same moment _every_ time.

This time however there were to be _no_ 'accidents'.

Itachi walked forward, scanning the area with his eyes. He could see small movements hear squeaks everywhere as well. Rats. He hated rats. They were disgusting, lowlife creatures with no purpose other then spreading disease. He killed them when he saw them and this time was no different. How to go about it though, burning them would leave a vile stench, but if he poisoned them he'd have to go around and pick them up.

After a second of careful thinking, he came up with an effective plan of action. He made hand seals for a second fire jutsu and circled the cave with the blaze. He heard loud squeaks as the rats ran from the fire and gathered around his feet, the only place where the fire did not reach. A circle of fire surrounded them. 

The frightened creatures looked at him. One of the scummy black rodents decided that the Uchiha would make a good snack, and bit through his sock and sandal to his foot.

Itachi flinched and quickly kicked the rat off of his foot. His next move was easy. He jumped into the air and used chakra to hold himself to the ceiling. He dispatched a set of kunai with tags attached to them. One quick seal and they exploded with poison. He held his sleeve over his mouth to avoid breathing in the fumes.

"Oi," Kisame came to the entrance of the cave and covered his mouth and nose as well. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked. The squeaks of dying rats answered his question.

He'd known about the Uchiha's hatred of rats. It made sense. After all he did have a contract with summoning cats. When the squeaks died out, the flames dissipated as well, apparently they had been fueled by flammable rat's nests.

He looked up at Itachi and watched hip flip off the ceiling and land gracefully on the ground, his cloak flared around him and dust flew outward in a circle. He stood up, his menacing red eyes looking up.

It reminded him of something he'd seen in a manga when he was a kid in the Mist academy. '_What, is he mimicking someone directly out of that old magazine Shounen Jump?_' Kisame rolled his eyes. "Whose gonna pick those damn things up?" he gestured to the pile of rat carcasses.

Itachi turned away from him to check out the various 'rooms' in the cave for intruders. Kisame sighed. He should've known. Either way, he wasn't touching them. "Kage Bushiin no Jutsu,"

* * *

_There was no one there, nothing to see. _'Am I dead?' _was the first thought that came to his mind. No, he wasn't dead. _

_It was pitch black. "Son of a bitch," he opened his eyes, he still saw nothing. "Am I blind?" He felt around in front of him, or he tried to. "I can't move,"_

_What was going on?_

"_Naruto-sama…Naruto-sama…?" he heard a voice calling his name. It was a little girl's voice. "Naruto-sama, where are you?"_

"_I'm here," he replied._

"_Naruto-sama…where are you, I can't see anything, and I'm scared Naruto-sama…"_

"_I'm right here," he called. "Come over here,"_

"_Naruto-sama," her voice was echoing slightly. "AH! Naruto-sama, Naruto-sama! Help me!" her calls became more frantic and afraid. Her voice seemed to be getting farther and farther away._

"_I'm here," he said._

"_Naruto-sama!" she screeched in terror._

_He tried with everything he had to move, to get up to get to the scared little girl. She screamed again. "Kozakura-chan!" 

* * *

_

"Unh!" Naruto shot up in bed, sweating and panting heavily. A sharp pain shot through his chest. "Fucker!" He clutched the front of his shirt.

He looked over to his right and found a clock, it read twelve-thirty p.m. He may as well get up. The blonde shinobi pushed the blankets off of him and stood. He was clad only in his boxers, as his clothing had been bloodied up the previous night. He made his way to the dresser on which his clothes were carelessly thrown. He decided to check for new clothes. Inside the second drawer from the top, he found a new Akatsuki outfit. Good, he could stop wearing Itachi's clothes.

He dressed himself in the outfit. It was much smaller then Itachi's clothing, and fit him much tighter. Under the tight black shirt and mesh top his rippling muscles were easily visible. The pants left room to be desired in certain places. One certain place to be exact. But they weren't a bad fit.

Briefly he wondered if the clothes had belonged to a woman. Oh well. They were his now.

Downstairs he encountered Deidara molding his clay furiously. "I don't see why I have to stay here, he doesn't listen to me anyway, Sasori no Danna. He only has respect for you so what's the point in me staying here, there's other stuff I could be doing,"

"Be, quiet, Deidara, you're acting like a child who didn't get to go out for ice cream with everyone else." Sasori responded.

"No I'm the one who gets stuck babysitting the little brat." He replied hotly.

Naruto came into view of the two men. He paid them no mind however. Instead he sat on the floor in the corner of the room and rested his face in his hands.

Deidara watched him angrily.

What the hell was with that dream he had had? Who was 'Kozakura', he'd never met anyone with that name. It sounded similar to 'Sakura'. That was probably why the dream had frustrated him so much. He did not love Sakura or feel any attachment to her. No, that was his other half. He did not love anyone, he did not have attachments. He clutched his chest.

Ow.

Ok maybe he needed to make one, just one. But other than that, there were none. It only bothered him that the little girl from his dream had a similar name to Sakura because that might mean that when his other half had put the feeling of need into him, he may have done more then that, he might have given him some feelings for Sakura. That was not good. His other half had loved Sakura since he laid eyes on her.

Silly, really, that an eight year old could know that the girl in front of him was his one and only.

He shook his head. If he was retaining feelings for her, then she would be a hindrance. That was something he could not afford when he was running with Akatsuki. Sasori-sama would not approve.

Damn it! He needed to stop this. He needed to distract himself from the needing, empty feeling in his heart. Naruto looked up, glaring across the room at Deidara before his gaze settled on Sasori.

"Sasori-sama," he asked. "I want to kill," there, blood would distract him.

"Do you,"

"Yes, I want to see blood," his lust ignited, and his body grew hot and restless. His hands twitched, they needed to wrap around a slender neck and squeeze it. Squeeze it and rip out the jugular, watch them bleed. "Red, blood,"

* * *

"_Why do you want me to let you go, konoichi," Naruto asked. She coughed, and blood dribbled down her chin, mixing with rain water and…were those tears…?_

"_My baby needs me," she whispered. "I have to get to her. They'll kill my little girl if I don't get to them." she _was_ crying. He wasn't imagining it._

"_I hope you-cough-burn in hell," she coughed up blood. 

* * *

_

"Sakura," the masked ANBU shinobi nodded to her and she turned at him with a look of anger. He shrunk away from her slightly.

"Leave me be," she didn't like him. He was a rookie who thought he was better then her. Calling her 'Sakura', he had no right to refer to her by her name. "If you wish to speak to me, then get rid of your arrogance." She turned away from him and left the hospital.

As Tsunade had ordered, she'd gotten herself checked out. As expected, they had healed up her side a little more and gotten rid of a few minor injuries she had retained. She'd also restocked on medical supplies while she was there.

Great, now she had to go back to Sasuke. She'd noticed a while back that he'd sent one of his summon snakes after her, but she paid it no mind as it conspicuously slithered behind her.

She'd been sure to tell Tsunade not to send a team after Sasuke. After all, she could do that on her own. She already knew who she was going to send after them. They were in the vicinity of Team Hebi already, and she trusted them to heed her orders to keep him alive.

Haruno Sakura stopped in her tracks and looked up at the Konoha symbol that was etched into the stone arch over the gate. She took a deep breathe of air from the breeze that gently blew her pink locks around her face. She wouldn't be back for a while, she may not come back at all and she knew that. Worse case scenario: she came back alone. That was by far her greatest fear, and she wouldn't let that happen. If she couldn't come back, then, she would at least make sure that Naruto or Sasuke or hopefully both, could.

'_Good bye, Konoha,_' she bid goodbye to the great city, launched herself into the air and proceeded forward to find the team of fugitives that she'd left behind but hours ago.

* * *

"P-please, just let me go," the woman begged, looking up at the blond man whose fingers were wrapped around her throat. He squeezed tighter and her lungs gasped for air. Her hands were clawing hopelessly at his fingers. She was leaving small scratches on his wrists. "S-stop!" she choked out.

One of his hands grabbed her hair and he released his grip on her neck. With his free hand he took out a kunai and jabbed her in the side.

She screamed hoarsely, and stared at him in terror through clouded vision. The woman clenched her teeth and hot salty tears burned her eyes and slid down her cheeks.

He twisted the kunai in her wound and wriggled it around, tearing up her insides. Blood dripped and sprayed from the wound all over the ground and all over the two of them. He laughed, his eyes fixated on the serum. His ears were pleased by her cries. It was delicious.

"Finish up, Naruto, we have to go soon," Sasori stated from his shaded spot under a tree on the side of the path. He'd pleased two restless blonds in the past ten or so minutes. Deidara got to blow up a cart, killing two people and leaving one woman alive and almost unscathed. Naruto had gotten to see his blood and was now drenched in the sticky red substance as a result of being to close to the explosion of the cart. Most of it was not his, but belonged to the mangled corpses lying around.

Deidara was standing on a branch above Sasori, watching curious yet disgusted by Naruto.

"Hai, Sasori-sama," he replied, disappointed that he had to end his fun so soon. "Sorry we couldn't get to know each other better, sweetheart," his lips curled in a blood-chilling smile and she screamed. The noise didn't last long however. He wrenched his kunai from her side and dropped it on the ground.

He dug his fingers into the skin on her throat, all the while holding her up by the hair on her head. He ripped her esophagus out of her and her eyes rolled back into her head as she died. Naruto dropped her limp body onto the ground with her esophagus He picked up his kunai and licked the blood from the blade.

"Come, Naruto, we have to go" Sasori stood up straight, and turned to walk into the woods. Deidara jumped from his branch to walk next to Naruto. The two blonds exchanged glances.

Naruto however ignored Deidara from then on. He started to lick his fingers, savoring every jolt of the metallic taste.

The little girl from his dream, Kozakura, was now nothing but a small insignificant thought in the back of his mind. "Sasori-sama," he asked between licks.

"What," he said, uninterested in the question.

"Where are we going now," he watched in annoyance as some of his precious blood dripped and fell, quickly infiltrating the soil at his feet.

"To the extraction sight, you've been there before." Sasori replied. "We are going to take the Kyuubi tonight."

"Heh," he smiled. "Then, can I watch it destroy?"

"Only when Leader-sama sees it fit, will we unleash the wrath of the Kyuubi Kitsune." He answered knowingly. He heard Naruto sigh in disappointment.

He may not get to see the Kyuubi Kitsune destroy, but after the extraction, Sasori planned to let him massacre an entire village, just for the hell of it.

* * *

"Now what should we do?" Kisame asked the Uchiha sitting across from him on the other side of the entrance to the cave.

"Stay," using as few words as possible, he got his point across.

There was no point in walking back to the base, it was a good distance away, and it would be dark in but an hour. Then Deidara and Sasori would arrive with Naruto, and the other members of the Akatsuki would join them in the cave through an illusion jutsu.

Itachi reached into his cloak and took out his half of Sasuke's message. It amused him to no end, the contents of the scroll. Sasuke was a fool. 

He unraveled the paper and tried to focus on the words. They were a bit blurry. He rubbed his eyes quickly when Kisame was not looking and then squinted at the black words. His vision was bad in distance, but he actually had a little more problem reading then he did seeing far away.

He had decided to read, or try to read, the scroll again to pass the time. The message was far from short and sweet, though he tried Sasuke had never perfected the customary Uchiha technique of using only a few, meaningful words to get the point across. What his brother had said in two paragraphs he could have summed up into a short sentence.

_Itachi, you took everything from me once, so I dare you to try it again. 

* * *

_

Sakura whistled soundlessly as she neared the location of Team Hebi. The snake that had followed her had gone ahead, so she knew they had stayed where they were. Like before, four ANBU shinobi replied to her.

What was interesting was that you could almost carry on a conversation through whistles. She informed them of the situation with Sasuke. They signaled to her that they understood. She picked up the pace at which she was walking. Three-hundred meters ahead and she would find Hebi, along with the four man ANBU squad she had called for.

* * *

"I think she's coming back," Suigetsu sighed. He was standing against a tree, the Kubikiri Hōchō strapped to his back.

"You've said that _how_ many times now?" Karin drawled. She pushed her hair out of her face. She hoped that on her way back, Sakura accidentally fell off a cliff and died. Sasuke said he hated her. She said she hated Sasuke, but it always felt incredibaly uncomfortable around them, like there was something other then hatred swelling around the two of them. She didn't know what it was, but she had brushed it off as the miniscule remains of a childhood friendship.

Still, it bothered her to know that Sakura probably knew Sasuke better then she did. '_I'll see to it that she dies a slow painful death even if it kills me,_'

Sasuke's eyes flickered open. He'd dosed off a while back. It was going to be dark very soon anyway. But he could feel Sakura coming. His hand shot out to his left and he plucked his summon snake off of the ground. "Well,"

"She'ssssss not ssssssending any peoplesssss" the snake hissed.

"You may go," he released the slimy creature and it dissapered in a puff of smoke.

* * *

"I can't believe she brought him back so easily," the male ANBU of the four man squad stated.

"Why are you surprised? It's Sakura, she's grown a lot in the past few years." The brunette girl with her hair in a bun and a gianty ax on her back replied.

"Yea, come on give her some credit, Neji," the blonde girl stated.

"I'm s-still worried though," long navy hair in a white ribbon flowed behind this shinobi.

"What about, Hinata-sama," Neji asked his cousin, sparing her a quick glance.

"I don't think Naruto-kun was with her,"she replied. "And I thought I t-told you to stop calling me 'sama' nii-san," she smiled at him from behind her mask.

"I didn't sense or hear him either," the blonde girl knotted her eyebrows and her sky blue eyes clouded with worry.

"I'm sure he's fine, Hinata-chan, right Ino?" the girl carrying the ax turned to her blonde comrade.

"Hai, Tenten-chan," she nodded. She didn't really believe what she was saying though.

* * *

"Konichiwa, Hebi," Sakura nodded her head. She was a good fifteen feet away from them. 

"You took long enough, what the hell were you doing?" Karin asked, massaging her temples.

"Packing, telling my kage what I was doing, though I suppose as low life fugitives you don't typically perform such tasks," she answered the red head monotonously.

"Ha, ha," she glared.

"So, are we leaving?" Sasuke asked, getting to his feet. He was feeling a little uneasy. Something was up.

"Yes, I suppose we are, so get off your asses, and let's go." She blinked. "They'll probably take the Kyuubi in the next twenty-four hours."

Sasuke nodded. He took a few steps forward, and the other three followed.

"Thank you for not turning us in, Sakura-san," Juugo nodded to her.

She felt a small pang of guilt. She'd admit it. She had taken a liking to Juugo. He was kind, despite the people he spent his time with. Oh well.

The group came toward her, slowly closing the gap between them. Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly. She wasn't moving from her spot, why? His eyes flashed crimson.

'_Does he know?_' Sakura caught it. '_No, I'm giving him too much credit, though he probably suspects something._' She put two fingers to her lips, and let out a silent whistle.

'_That's the signal,_' the blonde thought before jumping from the trees.

Team Hebi stopped when four figures blocked the path between them and Sakura. She removed her fingers from her lips and her hand dropped to her side. One of the four lifted a feminine hand and nin-wire pulled the four outlanders to the tree behind them.

"What the hell?" Suigetsu asked. The four ANBU tilted their heads back and their hoods fell.

"It's been a while, Sasuke," a muffled female voice came from behind a hawk mask. Chin length, boyishly cut blonde hair hung over the face and head of the woman who spoke. "Looks like you did a little extra hunting, eh, Sakura?"

"Where's Uzumaki?" another voice, this time a man's. The mask covering the face of this shinobi was that of a dragon. His hair was brown, shoulder length, tied in a loose ponytail at the back of his neck.

"Naruto," Sakura started. "Is a subject that will be discussed later."

"I see," the man responded.

The female shinobi holding the nin-wire had chestnut hair in a single bun on top of her head and a giant ax strapped to her back. She cocked her head to the side slightly. "Kubikiri Hōchō," she said, a hint of interest lacing her voice. "I'm impressed."

"You should be, now let me down bitch!" Suigetsu spat.

The final shinobi of the group lifted her hand, two fingers had chakra concentrated in their tips, and a whip of invisible chakra sliced through Suigetsu's chest. "Be, quiet," a soft, whispery voice spoke. Long navy hair tied with a white ribbon was draped over her shoulder.

"What in hell was that?" he muttered, flinching slightly.

"You look surprised, Sasuke," Sakura looked at him. "What, your summon didn't mention that my team was coming for you?"

He shot her a glare. "You sent a team of incompetent shinobi whose techniques I'm already familiar with," he said. '_Yea right, you _used_ to know their technique's, once upon a time, you haven't seen any of them in at least five years, and that jutsu the Hyuuga girl just did, that was definitely not one of her old techniques. It's at _least_ a B-level jutsu._' A voice in his head told him what he already knew.

"Are you ready to go home, Uchiha?" the brunette questioned, her eyes lingering on the Kubikiri Hōchō.

"I don't have a home, my home was ruined a long time ago," he stated.

"Oh boo-hoo," the blonde girl mocked. "I pity you Sasuke, more for your idiocy then anything,"

"Shut up whore," Karin hissed. She received a slice in her skin from the chakra whip of the navy-haired girl.

"I'll knock them out," the man stepped forward and lifted two fingers. Karin and Suigetsu flinched, thinking that he was going to use the same technique as the girl to his right.

"I suppose I was to quick to trust you, ne, Sakura-san?" Juugo looked up at her, a tad dissapointed.

"That you were Juugo-san." She said.

Suigetsu watched as the man came towards them, he certainly didn't see them as a threat, since he was definitely taking his time. '_Damn, that bitch has us tied up tight, if I could just move a little bit, I could get us out of this,_' he tried to monover himself so he could get his steel to make contact with the nin-wire and cut it.

* * *

"Are you sure that you want to give up the Kyuubi," an illusion of Pein questioned Naruto. He didn't really care if he wanted to give them the Kyuubi or not, he was more interested in wether or not Sasori's jutsu had worked as well as he claimed.

"Take it you want it, get it out of me"

"Alright then," he smirked. So Sasori hadn't been lying when he said that Naruto was completely under his control _and_ completely willing to give up the Kyuubi Kitsune. "That's good,"

"Heh,"

"What's so funny," Pein asked, a little irritated.

"Nothing, it's just kind of cool to meet the Akatsuki leader. I've been hunting you for six years and now that I'm evil I meet you in the first two days," he laughed.

Pein smirked. This kid, he was amusing.

"So how does this work?" he asked. Pein, amused by his forwardness, proceeded to explain thje process.

Sasori was a little uncomfortable with the way that Naruto was talking so casually with his leader, but it didn't seem to bother the hollogram man. He stole a glance at the other members. Hidan and Kakuzu, as well as Tobi and Zetsu were there, hollograms of course. They were silently, except in Tobi's case, talking about various things. One of their main topics, as was expected, was Sasori's success in getting the Kyuubi.

Itachi and Kisame had taken their places on their small pillars of stone, sitting down in silence. They were less then happy for the puppet master, as he'd been practically ordering them around for four days, and captured the target they'd been chasing for nearly a decade in but a few hours. Resentment was hardly a strong enough word to describe their current state of mind regarding the eldest member of Akatsuki.

"We are going to take Kyuubi Kitsune today," Pein stated. The members of his organization took their places quickly and quietly. "Prepare for our jutsu, we will begin in a few moments, and their will be no 'accidental' death today," he said. The outline of a woman's body stood on his right side, her eyes watching him intently."Sasori-san has finally brought us the final bijuu, and we will extract it with care, leaving the host _alive_." He joined his hands in front of his chest. "Lets begin,"

Hands moved in sync with each other in a circle around the room. Naruto was lying on the ground in the very center of the cave on his back. The seal on his torso was exposed to the eyes of the men and lone woman in the cave. They all focused their chakra and the black marks on his abdomonals glowed white. He dug his fingers into the ground, clenching his teeth at the searing pain. He couldn't help it, he had to scream.

* * *

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled suddenly. She could feel something was wrong, she didn't know how, she just did. Everyone turned to look at her. "Something's wrong,"

* * *

**A/N: I'm SO sorry I'm so late, I hadn't done my homework in like two weeks so I had a lot of make up work to do. Well, I hope this chapter wasn't dissapointing. Also, the note that Itachi was reading earlier on, it's longer then that sentence I put their, I just didn't want to put it all down yet. The plot thickens! We now find out why the Grass Kunoichi was fighting! Interesting isn't it? Heh, I tried to leave it on a cliff hanger, if I did a decent job, please tell me so I don't feel like and idiot for mentioning it. Constructive critisism is welcome.**

**Review!!**


	6. Chapter 5

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Author's Note

: Yo, my excuse this time (oh god, another one…) is that a reviewer by the name of Fury Cutter made a good point. He gave me five, I agree with one. The extraction scene was too short. Now, I did extend it, but not to the full three days. It's now a twenty four hour period. As for your other points, first of all, if Naruto died, there would BE no story, and come on, I'm only on chapter five, give me some time to develop the parings. Ok?

**Thanks for your patients.**

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**Disclaimer****: I do not own Naruto.**

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"What's wrong Sakura?" asked the blonde assassin, a hint of worry lacing her smooth voice. She knew something had happened. Quite a long time ago, she'd noticed the connection between Naruto and Sakura, and she knew that Naruto was in trouble. "Sakura, what's wrong, tell me now," she ordered gently. The pink haired shinobi was panting. Her face was contorted into an expression of agony. However, it was not physical pain, it was searing emotional agony.

"Naruto, something's happening, he's in pain…" a horrifying realization dawned on her. She clenched her fists. Her hands were shaking, as this was the only part of her she could not prevent the fury from taking control of. "The Kyuubi Kitsune!" she turned on her heel and started to run in the direction of the extraction site. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She never thought that she'd ever need to rescue Naruto. He'd always, in her mind, seemed more or less invincible. However, she was quickly learning that he was just as human as she was.

It scared her.

She hated it.

"Sakura!" the navy haired girl called after her. The ANBU team was distracted, as they watched their friend and comrade leap into the woods, itching to chase after her, but holding back because of Team Hebi's presence. So, Suigetsu took his chance to cut the nin-wire with his sword.

"Shit!" the brunette with the ax watched in surprise as her nin-wire was sliced, falling lax and her prisoners escaped. She glared at Hebi as they took off after Sakura, Sasuke in the lead. "Follow them you idiots!" she hollered angrily. At her own command the angry woman lunged into the air. Her team followed shortly after her.

"Where are we going?" Suigetsu yelled as he struggled to keep up with the adrenaline-high Uchiha. He did not answer. He instead picked up his pace. Sakura was getting too far ahead, had he been at full strength he could have kept up with her, passed her even. It infuriated him that he was not.

Sakura was moving as fast as her legs would carry her. She was not about to let him slip through her fingers. Not after everything they'd been through. "Naruto!" she screamed through clenched teeth. "Hang in there you big idiot! Fight it!"

Finally, she was leading him to Itachi. Sakura was too caught up in concern for that blond idiot to care that she was leading him straight to his goal. She didn't even realize that she was leading him towards what she wanted to keep him away from. The irony of the situation made him smirk. She cared more about Naruto at the moment to give a damn about him all the while unconsciously helping him. It was perfect.

His eyes narrowed slightly. Why was she more concerned with Naruto? She claimed to love him after all. Of course, she hadn't said one thing about her 'undying love for him' since he'd seen her, she didn't seem to consider him as such a person that she could love anymore…why did that bother him?

"Shouldn't we try to catch them?" Ino questioned her captain as she and her team followed her former crush and his fugitive comrades. She flicked her bangs out of her view. "Neji?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Hinata's suddenly strong voice.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu," Hinata slammed her hand onto her left arm and out of a series of kanji that appeared and disappeared on her left limb, a hawk appeared. As she performed her Jutsu, they were neck in neck with Hebi. "Taka-san," her voice was serious. Her movements were graceful even at the speed they were moving, even with her eyes focused elsewhere, on her hawk.

'_She can perform Hawk summons?_' Sasuke shook his head. So the Hyuuga girl could perform summons, so what. He had bigger things to think about, _much_ bigger things.

"Naruto-kun is in trouble, fly to Konoha and inform Hokage-sama…and Taka-san, hurry, we'll be fighting the Akatsuki soon. We'll need help." she thrust her arm in the air to give the predator bird a boost. Through her enhanced vision she watched the beautiful bird soar in the direction of her home city. She kept her eyes on the trail in front of her, her Byakugan allowing her to watch everything around her at the same time.

Her heart was pounding. Naruto was in trouble. And she'd never been given the chance to tell him why she was so damn awkward around him, if he died here, he'd never…

No. She couldn't think like that. He was strong, powerful. He'd make it. She had faith in him.

Neji watched his cousin intently. She was so worried about Naruto that she'd forgotten to stutter. "No, forget the Uchiha and his cronies. We have bigger things to worry about," he verbally transmitted Hinata's silent message. The two Hyuugas took the lead, Ino and Tenten following closely. They ignored Hebi, taking their captain's orders seriously.

"Sorry, Sasuke," Ino called down to him as she jumped to a higher branch. "We'll have to postpone this until later," she mockingly blew a kiss from behind her mask before turning away and eliminating him from her line of vision and her train of thought.

She'd never been close with Naruto, but he meant a lot to Sakura, and that was enough for her. Her friend had been hurt enough already.

* * *

'_Sasori-sama, you lying son of a bitch, you didn't say it would feel like my insides were being burned with a match and then ripped out!_' Naruto's nails continued to dig into the ground, his back arching in response to the feeling.

He closed his mouth in an attempt to stop screaming. The noise escaped through his lips despite his efforts. His eyes clenched shut as sweat began to drip into them, stinging quite a bit. The wounds in his leg and back were on fire, as though both places were being stabbed repeatedly by a knife that had been dropped into an ocean and was now coated thickly with salt. His fingers were going numb and turning white due to the force at which he pressed them into the ground. His teeth ached from being clenched together so hard.

His thoughts became clouded. He reopened his eyes, to discover his vision had become red. Then, quickly, he fell unconscious as something probed his mind.

* * *

"_Ugh," Ashi-Naruto felt a huge wave of relief sweep over him as the huge pressure was removed from his body, or so it seemed, as he could no longer feel it._

_His eyes adjusted to the light and his ears to the sound. There was a gentle splash each time the water slapped up against the walls and his own bare feet. The water was warm, as electric currents ran through it, a result of the Kyuubi's presence in the underground prison._

_The hall he was in held a damp smell, mostly consisting of the distinct sent of decaying and burning wood, and for some reason it smelled vaguely of rotting corpses._

_His feet began to lead him down a path he'd taken so many times before. When in danger, he'd always been the half to do the smart thing, and look to the tailed beast for assistance. Around a few corners he went, and the electric currents in the water became stronger, burning at his feet. Red sparks sizzled as the water spat out the chakra it could not contain. He winced when one of the sparks took refuge on his ankle and burned his skin._

"_Kyuubi Kitsune, the final Bijuu, I was wondering how long it would take to finally retrieve you," Pein's voice was drenched in excitement as he stared into the eyes of his organization's latest catch._

"_Pein, I was wondering how long it would take for you to get to me, seems this boy gave you some trouble, heh, he wasn't too much for you was he?" the creature asked mockingly._

"_Not at all," he smirked._

* * *

The ANBU team was following closely behind Sakura. "We're almost there!" she said, more to herself then to the others. She came to a halt, not wanting to get to close to the extraction site for fear of being noticed by the S-class criminals. They stopped, standing tensely on the tree branches. "Neji, Hinata, take a look five kilometer's in that direction, tell me what you see," she pointed ahead, in the direction of Sasori's original place of death.

* * *

The sky was painted an array of colors varying from pink and orange to purple and then eventually to black. The sun had nearly set, falling behind the trees to the west of Konoha. It was a beautiful sight. But a beautiful sight was always followed by a horrible event. Or at least, that's how it worked in her world. That day was no exception.

It was the sharp cawing that told her something was wrong. The old Hokage rolled back from her desk and twisted her chair around to face her window. She slid the glass pane aside, allowing the bird passage into her office. She watched as the magnificent creature circled the room before comfortably perching herself on the desk of the female leader.

Tsunade recognized the Hawk as one of Hyuuga Hinata's summons, as she was one of the few who managed to obtain a contract with the stubborn animals. "What's happened?" she asked, seriousness evident in her words. The bird did not answer as she smoothed the sleek black feathers on her right wing with her sharp beak. Her piercing eye focused on Tsunade. "Well?!"

"Back up!" the bird cawed impatiently in her full voice. She continued to smooth her feathers, fluttering her tail slightly. The Konoha forehead protector she wore jostled slightly around her neck, where it was tightly tied.

* * *

The toad Sanin had heard the loud call of the Hawk that had just flown into Konoha. He tried to avoid paying it any mind. He'd just returned from a mission after all, he just wanted to relax for a few days and do some research for his latest book. He was currently working on his sixth edition of Icha Icha Paradise. However, thoughts of his masterpiece were soon put on hold once more, when his former teammate's voice relayed the seriousness of the situation with the use of his name. He looked down at the ground below him from the roof, where he had stood to 'talk' to his deceased sensei. "Sorry, Sarutobi-Sensei, duty calls," he bowed to the stone monument that portrayed the great man in his highest point, among three others before hurrying down the staircase up which he'd come.

* * *

Tsunade growled and stomped to her door yelling into the hall. "Jiraiya, Shizune! Get in here!" Jiraiya was not far, Shizune was just down the hall, fetching some more paper work for her mistress to take care of.

"EH!" Shizune dropped her heavy stack of papers onto the ground, nearly drowning the two Chuunin who followed behind her in the fluttering sheets. The medic-nin darted down the hall, her pig Ton Ton running as fast as she could behind her. "Tsunade-sama, what's wrong?" She was greeted by the sight of the two remaining Sanin standing expectantly in front of the sleek black hawk that sat on the desk, talons slicing through important papers.

"They are good enough; now tell me what you were sent for!" Tsunade slammed her hands down on her desk, staring straight into the winged creature's dark eyes.

"My mistress, she wishes me to tell you," each word spoken by the bird was long and dragged out by the caw that came more naturally to her then speaking. "Naruto is in trouble, Akaaaatsuki, fight, soooon,"

"Unh!" Tsunade's hands gripped tighter the edges of her desk, crushing the hard oak in her fingers. Her mahogany eyes grew wide before narrowing with fury. "I knew I should have sent another team to go with her!" she muttered under her breath, regret lacing her voice.

"What kind of trouble?" Jiraiya asked the bird. He had heard what the falcon had said. He didn't quite grasp the situation in its entirety, however. Hi heart had skipped the beat at hearing the name of his surrogate grandson.

"The Akatsuki captured him. I guess Sakura couldn't get to him in time." Tsunade growled. Jiraiya cursed under his breath. Shizune clenched her teeth and fists, disgusted that they were all just standing there.

"Then what do you want us to do?" Shizune asked loudly, her legs itching to flood with chakra and launch her through the window. She watched her leader and could see that she was having a difficult internal struggle. She shook her head. The time they were wasting could be time spent finding the blond that over time she'd grown to love. She growled. "Tsunade-sama!"

"Don't rush me Shizune!" Tsunade spat. "Jiraiya, find Kakashi, Sai, and Yamato. I want the four of you to get your asses moving immediately and find him before something more happens," Jiraiya was gone in an instant out the open window.

"What about me?" Shizune asked. Tsunade locked eyes with the bird on her desk.

"Lead their way to him!" she hollered at her. A little startled, the predator bird shrieked and launched herself back into the air, angling herself as she escaped the window so as not to clip her one and a half meter wingspan. "Shizune, please bring me a drink,"

The assistant was taken aback, "I want to go with them! I'm a medic-nin! If it's the Akatsuki they're fighting they'll need my help!"

"No, you're needed here; you have other things to attend to." She moved slowly back to her chair, resting her hands on her desk. The black-haired woman stalked out of the room, furious at her mistress. How could she sit there and ask for a drink? Shizune should've been going with them.

* * *

"Neji, Hinata, what's going on?" Sakura called back. The two Byakugan users simultaneously focused their vision on the cave. The rosette kunoichi waited impatiently for an answer. "Well?" she turned around to face the two Hyuugas. They both looked down, their uncomfortable expressions hidden by their masks.

"There's nothing in there," Neji growled. "They were only using this cave as a diversion," he deactivated his eyes. "It did seem odd that they'd somehow remake the cave," he muttered to himself, angry at himself for not figuring out sooner that the Akatsuki was not there.

"What do you mean there's nothing there?" Sakura hollered. She was ready to launch herself at Neji and shake the life out of him when Sasuke spoke. She turned to him, anger evident in her hard jade eyes. The last voice she wanted to hear was his.

"If you don't know the location of the Akatsuki, I have no use for you right now." The Uchiha sighed bitterly, looking right through her. The minor mistakes in his plan had been the reason he'd lost his target again, though he preferred to lay the blame on Sakura. "Karin," he looked over at the red-head expectantly. She nodded obediently and put her hands together into a single hand sign.

"I don't sense his chakra, I don't sense any chakra…" she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She was ignored by most of the group. Sasuke ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"No use for me, hm, Sasuke? I'm not surprised." Sakura let out a half hearted laugh. She clenched her fists. Naruto's missing state was weighing heavily in her heart and in her mind.

"I wouldn't be either," he responded. "The only thing you can be counted on to do is be a love-sick idiot," Sasuke commented off-handedly. Even if it was a miniscule comment, it was his way of taking out his anger on her. Sakura glared at him, all of her hate released on him in one look. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight.

"Let me tell you something," she said, her ANBU tone returning to her voice. "I have no love for you left in me. So you and your incapable whore can go somewhere else and have a nice long fuck, because I have real things to deal with right now." She was disgusted that he could get to her so easily. But, he needed to know it anyway. She wasn't that girl anymore. She wasn't _that _Sakura. Ino looked at the pastel-haired girl sympathetically. "Not some pathetic sibling rivalry that got out of hand."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. She had no right to say that. She didn't know what the hell she was talking about. She had no idea, not one clue. His insides felt like they were boiling. "Ugh," Karin had blocked out the conversation around her, completely missing Sakura's comment about her. "Where is all the chakra?" It was giving her a headache, searching for something she couldn't feel. Like having bad vision and trying to see the person across the room.

"Karin what the hell are you going on about?" Suigetsu questioned, annoyed, but not with Karin. He thought Sakura was sexy, and he'd happily screw her without a second thought. What he didn't like about her was her tendency to insult his leader. If he could've just sewed her mouth shut, she would have been the perfect woman.

Hinata was the only one listening to the members of Hebi as well as the small argument between Haruno and Uchiha. What did Karin mean, 'where is all the chakra?'

She searched all around her with her three-sixty vision. "Sakura," she caught the attention of the group. "Focus your chakra in y-your hand," the Haruno did as she was told.

"Ok, it's all in my right hand now," she raised an eyebrow, curious as to what the Hyuuga was getting at.

The navy haired girl squinted her eyes in effort, straining her eyes.

"I can't see it at all, I c-can't even feel it," she stated. The other shinobi, save for Karin, looked at her with a hint of confusion.

Sasuke focused his Sharingan on his ex-teammate's hand. He couldn't see or sense anything either…what the hell? He probably should've noticed that before the Hyuuga girl.

"A cloaking Jutsu," Sakura realized. She wracked her brain for where she'd seen it before. Then she remembered. "I've only ever seen one that could hide so much chakra at one time," she looked at Neji and Tenten. "Do you remember the seal that kept us out of the cave, when we went after Gaara?"

"How could we forget, it's not every day you have to fight against yourself." Tenten stated. It wasn't a pleasant memory. She'd been an even match with herself, it frustrated her. She had to be either the best or the worst. She hated to tie with anyone.

"It's the same as it was two years ago. The Akatsuki had a cloaking Jutsu in place. It was deactivated when we disturbed the seal," she said. "I didn't even realize there had been a cloak until after it was gone, and I felt Shukaku's chakra so suddenly," she drew her eyebrows together at the memory. It was a rush to feel so much at once.

"So, that was a cloak as well as a seal," Neji remembered. After his team's battle with Kisame, he'd entered the range of the seal, and became unable to see or sense any chakra until it'd been removed. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time. He was too focused on the situation.

Karin opened her eyes, having had received the answer to her question. With her fingers she began massaging her temples. She looked over at Ino, who had a pensive look in what could be seen of her eyes. "What do we do now?"

"We need to locate the center of the cloak," Tenten explained. She brushed her bangs out of the way of her eyes quickly as she spoke. "We can't be sure this is the same as last time, so we shouldn't look for the other four seals until we know exactly what Jutsu we're dealing with." Neither group was speaking directly to the other, even though they were exchanging questions and answers.

Sakura nodded, feeling a little more hopeful then she had been just a moment ago.

* * *

A few hours later, the large group of shinobi had calmed quite a bit, and they were sitting below a tree, resting while they tried to work out their next move. Neji and Hinata were working with Karin on a plan to locate the center of the cloak. As much as they disliked her, the abilities she wielded were very well going to end up useful to them in one way or another. Tenten was sharpening the blade of the giant ax she carried on her back, all the while, the weapons mistress was glaring whole-heartedly at the man across from her, who was also sharpening the blade he carried on his back. What she wouldn't give to take that blade…

Ino was sitting beside Sakura, and the two of them occasionally pitched theories to the two Hyuugas and Karin. In the mean time, they sat with their eyes closed, thinking about other things. Sakura tried to distract her thoughts while going over a medical Jutsu she'd recently learned and had not fully mastered.

"W-well, wouldn't the center of the cloak be the place where the least amount of chakra would be found?" Hinata suggested, disagreeing with Karin's notion that they should look for a place where there was more chakra as opposed to less.

To Karin, the Hyuugas seemed inept at figuring out this type of thing. Her specialty was chakra, she knew everything about it. How much every possible technique required, she learned quickly, just watching Sasuke use his Sharingan on one occasion, she knew exactly how much chakra it took. She would know better than either of these leaf shinobi whether or not a chakra shield would hold more or less of the energy over those it was concealing.

"I agree," Neji backed her up. "The Akatsuki wield a great amount of chakra, and with them all in one place they would definitely want to hide it.

"That's probably what they want us to think, you idiot." She argued. "The center of the cloak will hold the highest amount of chakra," she crossed her arms. "The Akatsuki aren't that stupid.

Sasuke rolled his eyes from his place on the tree branch above. Juugo was sitting just below him. The Uchiha had activated his Sharingan some time ago, and was performing his own search for the highest and lowest points of chakra. Though he would never admit it, he himself had nothing to go on either, save for clashing opinions of those below him. And face it, they weren't exactly helpful.

"Hinata," Sakura started. Karin sighed gruffly, leaning back against the trunk of the tree behind her.

"Great another idea from pink hair," Karin had decided against using the name of the Haruno, and instead referred to her by the inanimate mass that was her rosette hair. It was childish, but she didn't care. Anything to spite the other konoichi.

Sakura easily ignored her. She'd gotten over her anger at such petty things after having it out with Ino during the very first Chuunin exams. "What if you and Neji tried looking for the edges of the cloak, where the chakra would become more prominent and work your way in," she suggested.

"Sorry to knock you down pink hair but I've been trying that for hours," Karin informed her. Ha, take that. She'd thought of it first.

"You are not a Byakugan wielder." she stated simply. Karin twitched, pushing her glasses up her nose in irritation. The Byakugan had nothing on her.

"Got it." the two Hyuugas answered simultaneously, standing and turning their backs on each other. They could be seen concentrating, as the veins in their eyes and faces bulged even more as they focused.

"It does seem that there's a progression, from greatest to least chakra…" Neji stated, his eyes focusing even more. So he wasn't right.

"Karin-san, I-I'm afraid you're wrong, as are we, Neji nii-san."

"What do you mean?" Karin asked, trying to see what they did as she closed her eyes. Damn it, so maybe they did have one up on her. As far as she could reach, there was nothing but…well, nothing.

"There is no great o-or least amount of chakra, I-it's completely evened out, th-they could," Hinata narrowed her eyes.

"They could be anywhere within a ten kilometer radius, it's about the size of the forest of death," Training arena forty-four. How convenient the two areas would be so similar. Again, they would be fighting impossible enemies. Again, someone was going to die. Whether it would be one of their own, or an Akatsuki, he didn't know. But he couldn't shake the feeling.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at the mention of the place. IT didn't hold good memories for him. In the end, it'd led him to great power. But this power was not enough to defeat Itachi, and he'd had to try a different path. Neither was very successful.

"So what, where are we supposed to look then, we can't check under every rock and every tree," Karin stated bluntly. They didn't have the time, and frankly, she didn't have the attention span.

Sakura placed her hands on her knees, looking straight ahead at the two Hyuugas.

"What I wouldn't give for Shikamaru's brain right now…" Ino commented with a sigh. She began massaging her temples as she wished for her genius comrade's presence.

"Where's the center of the shield," Tenten asked. "That's probably the best place to look," she wiped off her blade with a cloth, admiring the shine. She'd always been the best at caring for her weapons, hers were the sharpest, the smoothest, the most aerodynamic.

"You know what, they're probably right under our noses and we're just too stupid to figure it out, I mean, they could be like right behind me and I wouldn't even know it because of this stupid shield." Suigetsu glared at the shine of Tenten's blade, and began working harder on his own. His frustration was mounting with the situation. He was very tempted to turn to Sasuke and say, 'Let's just do this later, I'm bored and we're never gonna find him.' Of course, for this he'd be severely punished, one way or another.

"I believe it would be best to try and disable the shield." Juugo stated. His patients were an enviable trait to Sakura. "It may be the obvious thing to do, but it would make things easier." He was comfortably seated on a tree branch, playing with the material of his pants, which, due to his abnormal size and lack of clothing tailored for his use, were uncomfortably tight, and a bit too short.

Sasuke continued to search the area with his Sharingan, looking for the slightest movement, maybe his brother was right near him, as Suigetsu had said.

Hinata released her Byakugan, sighing and dropping her hands at her sides. "W-We need to think this over," she sat on the ground again, Neji soon followed suit. "Taka-san may be a while, until then we will have t-to strategize," She wished her bird could be faster, and yet, this was the fastest falcon she had.

"What's the point? There's plenty of us we could easily handle the situation." Suigetsu scoffed.

"Suigetsu, be quiet." Sasuke ordered, receiving a huff from the other shinobi. "Who will be sent as back up," it wasn't a question, nor was it directed at anyone in particular, but Sakura answered anyway.

"Most likely they will send my team."

"Who's that?" this time it was a question. He couldn't help but wonder who her team was, he'd once been on it, after all. With Naruto. Kakahsi was no doubt still a part of this squad, and he'd met two others, years ago. He didn't remember much of anything about them, except that one of them was an assassin sent after him.

"Yamato, Kakashi, and Sai," she answered. "This could get ugly, we'll need them…" she narrowed her eyes at the ground. Kakashi had told her many times, he could barely, just barely compete with the Akatsuki. As powerful as he was, he wasn't powerful _enough _for that type of battle. Not on his own. She looked at Suigetsu. "How good are you with Zabuza's blade?"

"It's not _his_ anymore. It's _mine_. He was weak and died. It's my blade now." he scowled at her, and she narrowed her eyes. He didn't take lightly to people thinking the Kubikiri Hōchō was still property of Momochi Zabuza.

"Do _all_ of you have brother complexes?" she was referring to all of Hebi, and she received two glares from those to whom her statement applied. She almost found it amusing how both of them had such strong inferiority complexes. However, it was likely they weren't misplaced judgments. "How good are you with the blade." she asked again.

"I'm good enough." Why did she even need to ask? He was a master.

"Good enough to fight Hoshigake Kisame?"

"That bastard? No problem. I know his style inside out. Knew him when I was a kid." he stated, almost proudly. Of course, he hadn't seen much of the large man since he was around seven, and Orochimaru kidnapped him after his brother's departure from the Hidden Mist. "I doubt it's changed much, he's not big on switching things up."

"Then you and Tenten should be able to handle him," she thought aloud, receiving a glare from Tenten and a scowl from Suigetsu. Neither wanted to have to share when both thought themselves very capable with their prized weapon.

"I don't need that bitch's help!" he pointed to her. He was going to take his brother's place in the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū. He didn't need help to defeat a ,an who was already part of this title.

"Sakura, I plan to fight Kisame on my _own_." she stated firmly. "I owe him one for trying to drown me."

"What?! _I'm_ fighting him! You-!" he stopped with a look from Sasuke. Suigetsu was ignored, saved for the flash of amusement in Tenten's eyes.

Neji nodded, remembering the incident. "We'll need to figure out who's fighting who, Kisame will go against Tenten, or Suigetsu, whoever gets to him first…Hidan and Kakuzu, they're dead,"

Ino nodded. "Helped take them out myself. Shikamaru dismembered Hidan and Kakahsi and Naruto obliterated Kakuzu."

"Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara of Stone are dead," Neji continued.

"That isn't true." Sasuke cut in, irritation lacing his voice, "They are alive." Despite his best efforts to kill Deidara. And he did, even if the ex-Stone shinobi claimed he did himself in.

Neji blinked, looking at the Uchiha. "What did you say?"

"I'm not repeating myself, Hyuuga." he answered.

"They are alive, Neji. They're the ones who took Naruto," Though she had had a hand in destroying Sasori. Apparently, the Akatsuki were more like cockroaches than originally thought.

Hinata looked to Sakura immediately. "But, you killed Sasori," Tenten looked up also, along with Ino. They'd all heard about it. They were all horrified that he could be alive.

"But they're alive somehow, for all we know, so are Hidan and Kakuzu…" she stated, giving Ino a sympathetic glance. They'd killed her Sensei two years back, and she'd been furious ever since, that she had done almost nothing about it.

Ino gritted her teeth. "I'll kill them…"

"Don't get ahead of yourself Ino," Sakura warned. She pulled out a notebook from her bag, and a pen, opening and beginning to write. "The possible enemies we will have are Hidan, Kakuzu," at this, Ino growled. "Deidara, Sasori, Zetsu and Tobi," Hinata remembered them well. "Kisame and Itachi…and then, the leader, and his partner, should he have one."

Sasuke clenched his jaw at the sound of his brother's name. He'd kill him soon enough.

"We have, on our side, Tenten, Neji, Hinata, Ino, and myself." she would not count Hebi as being on her side. No matter the circumstances, they couldn't be trusted. "Possibly Kakashi, Sai, and Yamato. Then of course Sasuke, Suigetsu-san, Juugo-san, and Karin-san…though I couldn't say they will help us." she was speaking as if they weren't there. Juugo was the only one who it didn't genuinely annoy. "Neji, could you figure out a plan for this?" she was too tired, too worried to think clearly, and Neji had been the number one ANBU captain for a half a year now, no one doubted his strategic skills. Except maybe Shikamaru, but no one compared with the Nara in smarts.

She knew well how his superior attention to detail would do them good in this situation, and so she handed him her notebook.

"Um, Sakura-san," Juugo started. The whole of the group looked at him, save for Sasuke, who didn't really care all that much what his teammate had to say.

"What," she looked at him.

"You forgot to list the Kyuubi container as an enemy,"

At this, Sakura clenched her jaws and fists. She didn't want to think about that possibility.

But she had too.

"Yes, Neji, include Naruto…on the side of Akatsuki…" Only then did she notice how dark it had become.

* * *

"Kurenai," Jiraiya stopped the woman in the street. She was headed home with a few bags of groceries in her hands and a little boy on her back, his legs wrapped around her thin waist and his arms around her neck. His head was rested on her shoulder, her long hair in his face. He had almost achieved sleep.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama?" she shifted her shoulders slightly when her son gripped the front of her loose red shirt. She usually had the two year old in bed by that point.

"Sorry to bother you right now, but, have you seen Kakashi, Sai, or Yamato?" he asked her. His eyes were resting on the tired child, who bore a resemblance to his deceased Sensei.

She knotted her eyebrows. "Kakashi is at the shrine where he always is. Yamato and Sai are probably at home in their apartments, why? What's wrong?" Her eyes were drawn upward when she heard the sharp cry of a bird. She saw the black hawk impatiently circling over head. "That's Hinata's summon," she observed, a sinking feeling in her stomach. "What happened?" But when she looked back, the Toad Sage had already gone. She bit her lip apprehensively.

"Mommy, I'm tired," her little boy rubbed his hazel eyes and pushed his black hair from his round face. He'd been awakened by the call of Hinata's hawk. He looked up, squinting as the remainder of sunlight burned his eyes. "Why is Taka-san here?" he asked, immediately recognizing his favorite of Hinata's birds. He grasped his mother's shirt a little tighter as a frightening thought entered his two-year-old mind. "Is Hinata nee-chan ok?" he asked worriedly.

"I don't know, Asuma-chan, I really just don't know," she closed her red eyes for a moment and let out a deep breath. "We'll be home soon, and then you can go to bed, ok?" she smiled and started walking again, forcefully pushing her foreboding thoughts to the back of her mind. She had to keep a positive attitude for her son.

"Bye-bye, Taka-san!" he waved at the predator bird as she flew out of his sight, following the elderly Sanin.

* * *

"Neji have you figured out anything for us to do yet?" Sakura questioned impatiently.

"Relax, Sakura. I've got a general plan going, trying to match up our enemies." He closed his eyes. "Assuming the Uchiha's team will be focusing solely on Uchiha Itachi, That leaves us with Kisame, whom Tenten can handle, should you be able to keep his hands and blade busy," he looked at her, having removed his mask. She nodded to him, hair falling in her exposed face. The ANBU team felt no need to remain in these masks. Their enemies knew their faces.

"I should be able to manage." She stated, now busying herself with her shuriken and kunai. Neji knew from experience she was truthful.

"We also have Hidan and Kakuzu, Ino, I didn't give them to you, I'm sorry, but your close range fighting will put you at a disadvantage with Hidan's sacrificial techniques." Ino bared her teeth in fury at this, though she knew he was correct. Her medical techniques required her to be up close. As did her mental infiltration. "However, since Kakashi-senpai has had experience with them, he and Yamato-senpai will handle it. Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara, I figure Sai could keep them busy enough, and then Hinata and I will go after the leader and his partner, along with Ino. We don't know much about Zetsu, or Tobi, and since we don't have enough men, keep on your guard. We don't know their abilities. The only information we have, is that Tobi is capable of very advanced time space Jutsu, Other than that, it's not known if he has many other talents…" he scratched his head. It made him uneasy to know so little about them. "Sakura, you will fight Naruto, if it comes to that."

Sakura nodded, good. That's how she wanted it.

"Neji nii-san," Hinata cut in, looking at what he had drawn up on the notebook paper. "D-Didn't you say that when you w-went last time, to retrieve G-Gaara-sama, that not all the Akatsuki were physically p-present? Why are you planning for so many? N-no one has ever actually encountered the leader before anyway…h-have they? We don't know for sure he'll be th-there, assuming i-it's even a man," She squinted her eyes.

"Yea, I get where you're coming from, but, it's the Kyuubi, it's a different, more powerful beast, we don't know how many of them are there, anyway, but, it's smart to plan for the worst possible situation. We may even be pleasantly surprised, Hinata-sama."

She gave him a half hearted glare for the use of the suffix. "I-I suppose you're right…"

"Hey, shouldn't Kakashi and Yamato be fighting the leader and his partner? I mean, they're the strongest of all of us," Tenten pointed out.

"That's…not entirely true. Naruto, is the strongest of all of us. With all of his training as of late…he's even mastered the Rasenshuriken, unfortunately I just can't count him on our side…" he sighed at this, knowing full well the Uzumaki would have been a powerful asset, their trump card. He had a knack for getting out of impossible situations, and had more stamina and chakra then most.

'_Rasenshuriken?_' Sasuke narrowed his eyes. What was that? A new technique he'd picked up? It sounded dangerous, if it meant to Hyuuga Neji that Naruto was the most powerful of them all, it must be a Jutsu of great stature. One he'd like to learn.

"But Naruto's not fighting for us! He doesn't count, Neji, Kakahsi and Yamato are the strongest and you know it! I want to fight Hidan and Kakuzu," Ino began to grind her teeth when her captain shook his head.

"As Hinata-sama said, we don't even know for sure they'll be there, Ino. There is no guarantee that Hidan and Kakuzu will, nor the leader and his partner. Frankly, we don't even know if there's an official leader, for all we know they are led by one of the operatives on which we have information, and we are just making assumptions,"

She clenched her jaw, releasing a long breath to calm herself. She couldn't disobey the orders of her captain.

"We should get some rest before we go searching for them," Ino mumbled. "We'll need the chakra, the sleep…"

"T'ch, stupid bitch, we don't need any rest." Karin muttered, making herself and her team out to be the superior shinobi. "But while your pathetic squad does, maybe you should play lookout or something, ne?" she glared.

"We do need the rest, all of us. However…" She answered for her friend, while sparing the Uchiha a glance. He needed the rest most of all. "We can't even be sure how long it will take to remove the Kyuubi. We don't know if we have the _time_ to rest in the first place."

"She's right, we might not have enough time," Juugo backed up the Rosette konoichi.

"Wait, yes, I think we do," Tenten spoke up. "Sakura, when you went to Sunagakure, after Gaara-sama was captured, how many days was that before we came across the Akatsuki?"

She furrowed her brow. "Four, but, we can't be positive that all of that time was spent extracting Shukaku,"

"We should at least plan on two days, sealing the Kyuubi killed the fourth Hokage, if that's how powerful a sealing Jutsu is, then, to extract it must take a great deal of time and energy," Tenten focused on the sharpened blade of her kunai as she spoke, adjusting her position on the moist ground.

"But the Akatsuki are the elites, it may not take them that long," Ino stated.

"No, two days is a decent estimate." Neji cut her off. The blonde konoichi gritted her teeth.

"What do you plan to do in that time?" Sasuke questioned. "And what happens if the Kyuubi extraction cannot be stopped?" this worried him. He needed the Kyuubi, and its container, intact. He needed the bait. However, his voice kept it hidden.

"We will search for the Akatsuki. And it _will_ be stopped. There is a way to stop every Jutsu, Uchiha. Even your Sharingan can be undone."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"No Jutsu is perfect, by any means."

* * *

"_Naruto! What's going on?!" Sakura stood beside Zen-Naruto and stared up at the sky. A thick coating of red clouds had formed and they were starting to spin._

"_It's the Kyuubi isn't it?" Sasuke raised his voice above the sound of the wind that was striking at him painfully. He put his arms up to shield his face from random pieces of debris that flew through the air carried on the vicious winds._

_Zen-Naruto growled. He felt the earth below his feet start to rumble. The ground on which he stood was seeping chakra, and that was never a good sign. "Hide!" he called back to Sasuke and Sakura as he took off._

"_No! We won't hide!" Sakura shouted as she dodged a stray tree branch._

"_Just do it! Now!" he didn't look back as he hollered his order._

_Sakura took the hand of her teammate and tried to pull him with her to get to Zen-Naruto. Sasuke growled. "Shit,"_

"_We have to go help him!" Sakura started to move forward. Sasuke gripped her hand._

"_You heard him, we have to stay here, if we die, he dies." He stated reluctantly._

"_But," Sakura saw that his mind would not be changed, and thought it over. "Then let's go back to the village." She released herself from his grip and started to run._

_After a long and hateful stare in the direction in which Zen-Naruto had gone, he followed after her._

_Just outside of the village, there was a hidden entrance to the underground prison in which the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Kyuubi eighteen years ago. No doubt the Akatsuki would find it, and at a fast rate with the help of his other half. "God damn it!" he muttered under his apprehensive breathe._

_Zen-Naruto looked around and quickly discovered the roots to the tree that disguised its entrance were thrown askew. They had already gotten in. He jumped down into the catacombs and his feet splashed at the thin layer of water that coated the floors. He hurried around the many twists and turns, following the ever growing feeling of dark chakra. The entrance to the room he stood in front of was burning at its end. Chakra sparks were catching the wood and it was being reduced to smoldering ashes that hissed like cold water on a hot skillet when they fell and became submerged in the aqua. He knocked down the door and it splashed, floating in the warm liquid. He stepped into the room, fists balled up and teeth gritted._

_The sight that greeted him was not a pleasant one. The bars that had always restrained the Kyuubi had begun fading away; beginning when Sasuke had left Konoha, and had been completely gone by the time he was sixteen. The ceiling that had kept the Kyuubi from overtaking his mind was cracking now, and he had had to be extra careful not to help it along. Anger, anger at the people who'd left him and misery at their loss _that_ was what had triggered the weakening of the seal. Lucky for him the Kyuubi could not get out until its roof was gone and left an open exit for it to fit through. However, that was now the least of his concerns._

"_Kyuubi Kitsune," Pein sighed as he touched the nose of the immense creature. "It's time that I free you of this god-forsaken prison,"_

"_And put me into your own, correct?" the huge fox bared it's fangs as it spoke. "Pein, I do not wish to become you're tool of destruction, if I want to destroy someone or something, I'll do it on my own terms, not on those of another,"_

"_But it appears as though you have no choice, ne?" Pein smirked. "After all, your host doesn't wish for you to stay does he? And he has someone to take you out of him as well."_

"_He is not my host," the Kyuubi's eyes flickered to a man standing in the corner. Ashi-Naruto came from the shadows, his feet creating ripples in the water that lapped at his feet as he stepped. They had become raw from the exposure to such dark chakra._

"_What are you talking about?" Ashi-Naruto seemed very offended as he uncrossed his arms, letting one hang carelessly at his side while he ran his other hand through his hair. With his view unobstructed by the blond locks he was free to glare up at the demonic creature with his icy blue gaze. "I am your host, this is my body,"_

"_Ah, but you are only half of him are you not? Without your other half, you will never truly be 'Naruto' will you?" the tailed beast's red orbs bored into the blond._

_Ashi-Naruto glared kunai at the demon fox. It was just taunting him, nothing more. He didn't need the pathetic part of himself that had held him back for so long._

"_Without him," the nine tails turned its gaze at Zen-Naruto, sending chills up his spine._

"_Get away from the Kyuubi," Zen-Naruto looked at Pein with determination and a hint of fear. He glanced over at his dark side, feeling a little safer seeing blue as opposed to the green ringed Rin'negan._

"_You again," Ashi-Naruto sped in Zen-Naruto's direction and looked him in the eye, anger glistening. "Would you but out? You have no business here,"_

"_This is my body as well, but I don't want to let the Kyuubi out! I don't give _my_ permission!"_

_The Akatsuki clad Naruto glared at him. The hatred he felt was so strong it was almost palpable. "You don't have a say in the matter!"_

"_Of course I do, I'm you aren't I?" he retorted in frustration. _

"_You stupid son of a-! Augh!" He cringed and Zen-Naruto saw something very familiar flash through the eyes of the other blond._

"_Love," Zen-Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly. At that moment he looked very tired, and his face took on an expression of a man far beyond his years._

"_What did you say?" Ashi-Naruto continued to attack the ANBU clad copy with his angry eyes. His nose was but a few centimeters from Zen-Naruto._

_Pein, who really had no interest in what was happening, put both hands lightly on the Kyuubi's nose. He spoke a few words and both Naruto's cried out._

* * *

"FUCK!!" Naruto called out hoarsely. His fingernails were beginning to rip from his nail beds, bleeding painfully.

Directly behind Pein was a very smooth cave wall. Eight seals, each different colors and kanji, were organized on the surface. Every seal contained a different Bijuu. A maroon chakra began seeping from the seal on Naruto's stomach. The chakra soared throughout the cave. It enveloped the whole of the Akatsuki, burning painfully at their eyes and skin, and in Sasori's case singeing the oak that formed his wooden body.

* * *

He had decided he would first stop at Yamato's apartment complex, as it was the closest to his current location. Sai, the once Root ANBU shinobi, lived a little too far out of his way. He could leave Sai to the ex-ANBU captain while he went to fetch Kakashi. He looked up at the flat rooftop of the building he meant to stop in.

He saw that Yamato was standing on the roof of his complex, looking rather relaxed as he watched the sun set. He hadn't changed out of his Jonin uniform, but had removed the frame that protected his forehead and the sides of his face, leaving his hair free to fall in his eyes. The calm man had his hands shoved comfortably in his pockets, and stood aloof, unaware of the trouble that was to come after the sun finally sank below the horizon line.

"Yamato!"

"Jiraiya-sama, what a surprise," he smiled. He hadn't been planning on seeing the Sanin anytime soon. His pleasant face was exchanged for a worried one. "What's going on?" he asked, noticing the serious expression worn by Jiraiya. He removed his hands from his pockets, and jumped down from his rooftop. He landed gracefully on his feet, and stood up straight to meet the older man's eyes.

"Go and find Sai. The two of you will meet me at the gates, I'll explain later," the brunette nodded and took off from Jiraiya's sight.

* * *

Kakashi sighed lightly. The dissipated orange reflection on the smooth stone that was the shrine was always somewhat calming. But he was left once again in the dark. He touched the stone, letting the slight chill that came from touching the cold surface wash over him. His fingers slid from the top of the diamond shape, over the various names that had been carved over its face, until he found the one he was looking for. Kakashi traced the name of his closest friend, who had been deceased for several years, killed at the age of thirteen, to early a death for anyone. "So, Obito, what's heaven like?" he asked, making casual conversation with the ever present aura of an Uchiha lost to him. Obito seemed to follow him everywhere. "No one's joined you in a long while, have they? I'm glad. No one's died in such a long time."

He could have sworn he heard the agreement of the bubbly Uchiha, before he heard the voice of another, "Kakashi," and his state of nostalgia was ended. "We have to go, Kakashi, Naruto is in trouble,"

Kakashi knotted his eyebrows in frustration, and withdrew his hand from the shrine.

The two shinobi jetted towards the gate, not needing to exchange another word.

* * *

"Taka-san," Hinata saw her bird returning to her as she and the rest of the group of shinobi continued towards the direction that they believed held the source of the cloaking Jutsu. It had taken the entire night, and a good portion of the next day, to fine it.

* * *

"_The center of the cloak is that cave, where Shukaku was taken," Neji stated. "Judging by the outer edge, that's what I'm seeing."_

"_But we looked there! No one's inside the cave. Neji, you've got to look harder." Ino growled. She was beginning to get incredibly frustrated with her captain's reasoning. "That's not where they are,"_

"_Ino, we don't know that for sure." He answered the girl, seeing her frustration grow quickly. There had been no sleeping that night. It was evident in her face, her sluggish stance, her rough voice, and her dulling sapphire eyes. "They could be, there are things that can stop the Byakugan from seeing any further…" he narrowed his eyes in concentration._

_Hinata blinked, realizing what her cousin was now thinking. "Nii-san! W-what if…!"_

_Both Hyuugas focused their sight in the direction of the cave once again, searching the area with their all-seeing eyes, to find, that underneath the cave, there was something they couldn't see, a large, misshapen mass that their vision couldn't penetrate. A big, open gap in the earth._

"_I don't believe it,"_

* * *

"Sakura," Kakashi called as he, Yamato, Sai and Jiraiya stopped in front of the group. It was somewhere around two in the morning. They had been running since the sun had set.

"Kakashi-Sensei," she nodded her head. She turned to Jiraiya, glad to see they'd received more backup then originally planned. "I'm guessing Tsunade-sama has already briefed you on the situation," she was surprised, and thankful he was there.

"Yea, she has," the Sanin looked around at the shinobi in front of him. He glanced at Team Hebi for a moment. "Looks like you picked up some trash on the way," He was far from happy with the young Uchiha. He was Naruto's best friend, and he respected that, but Sasuke had killed his own best friend. Though they would never have gotten along again, he would always miss the Snake Sanin.

"Yes," she responded. 'Trash'. What a perfect word.

"Sakura, how did the Akatsuki capture him," He expected that Sasuke had something to do with it.

"Sasuke used him as bait." She stated. "Come on, we have to go, they have the Kyuubi Kitsune, who knows what they'll do once it's out of him." They launched themselves into the air once again.

Kakashi didn't even spare his raven-haired student a glance. He didn't even deserve a glare. He'd sunk so low as to use his closest friend as bait. It disgusted him. He wondered briefly how he could possibly have the same blood running in his unworthy veins as Obito, who had been one of the nicest people he'd ever met. What had ever happened to the teamwork he'd stressed so much all those years ago? The respect and love for comrades? Evidently, Sasuke hadn't listened to any of it.

"Taka-san, I need you to search for a seal," Hinata told the bird circling her head.

"Seal," Sai asked. "What seal is there?"

"It's a chakra cloak, we can't sense or see any chakra as long as it's in effect, the source of the Jutsu should be in the same location as the Akatsuki themselves," Tenten explained.

"Hm," Sai narrowed his eyes. He'd never had a run in with the Akatsuki before, and he was interested to see what kind of power they actually wielded.

* * *

Naruto felt the distinct urge to kill as he inhaled the searing chakra through his nose and mouth.

The spiritual energy of the demon fox was emitted slowly at first, then faster and faster until in totally flooded the cave, forming for a split second the shape of a nine tailed fox before it dispersed again.

Pein raised one hand above his head and the Kyuubi's chakra shot through the air with immense speed and crashed into the back wall where a seal was formed. Slowly but surely, the Kyuubi was resealed, outside of Naruto's body.

* * *

Sakura let out a gasp. "God damn it!" she choked out. "I'm not fast enough!" she sped up, shoving a soldier pill in her mouth and chewing the bitter enhancer as quickly as her jaw would allow. It didn't take long for her to feel the effects of the drug.

Warm liquid splashed on Ino's bare upper arm. She looked up to see if it was raining, a lovely addition to their troubles that would be. But the sky was clear. Upon inspection of the substance on her arm, she found that it was blood. Sakura's fists were so tight that she was cutting into her hands with her nails. "The Kyuubi was taken!" Ino informed her comrades, and unintentionally Hebi. Hinata growled from behind her mask, Neji and Tenten prepared themselves to fight, as they were nearing the extraction site. Both of them remembered clearly the fighting they had endured simply to remove the seal that denied them entrance. To say the least they were not looking forward to reuniting with the Akatsuki.

Sai felt fury and excitement bubbling deep within him, and he had to work to suppress the feelings. Kakashi and Yamato gritted their teeth, and Yamato glanced at his palms, no numbers were printed there. Ino was right.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He didn't care that Naruto was in danger of being killed, not at all. All he cared about was that he could no longer use his former comrade as bait or even leverage. He couldn't think of another way to lure Itachi, even being the ninja genius that he was, nothing came to mind. He inwardly sighed, because now his only option to get to the Uchiha was to chase him, and that would take years. Who cared about Naruto, certainly not him. At least that's what he told himself. He had to hurry, Itachi wouldn't stay in one place for long, he never did.

* * *

Naruto was panting heavily and sweat was pouring from his skin. The last twenty four hours had been agonizing. Sasori walked over to him, looking down on his limp body as he lie on the dirt floor. "Are you awake," he asked monotonously.

"Ugh, yea," his body was shaking heavily. The stress of the extraction made every part of him ache. "Can I have some water or something, Sasori-sama?" he asked hoarsely.

"Go get it," He stated walking away.

Naruto sighed, his breath uneven as he tried to subdue the searing pain bouncing around inside of him. It felt like his blood was boiling and his veins were going to burst. For once, he didn't feel like seeing blood. He moved slowly, trying to roll over. He succeeded, grunting at the soreness of his stomach in particular. Through spinning vision he could barely make out the Akatsuki, separating to go sit or talk with one another, a good amount of chakra drained.

He pushed at the ground, trying to get onto his knees. His arms collapsed under him and he fell unconscious.

* * *

"_AUGH!" both of them screamed, sweating heavily and falling back into the water. It was unfamiliarly cold. There were no chakra currents running through it at all._

"_Son of a bitch," Ashi-Naruto complained, putting a hand to his throbbing head._

_Zen-Naruto lifted his soaked head out of the refreshing water and look up, trying to see where the Kyuubi had been imprisoned. The room felt so empty. On the back wall, he could see something he didn't remember. But then the demon fox had always been in front of it. He could barely make it out. It was a few lines of kanji. His dizzy vision was hard to focus._

_Zen-Naruto managed to get on his hands and knees and crawl over to the unfamiliar kanji. He squinted his eyes at the fading words. He began to mouth the words as he read the first line._

_He couldn't finish reading it, as the prison began to rumble. There was a loud crack as the ceiling above him began to crumble. Concrete crashed into the water in front of him. He used all of his energy to get back to his other half. "We have to get out of here,"_

_Ashi-Naruto glared at him from under half-closed eyelids. "Get the fuck away from me,"_

_Zen-Naruto paused, wondering if it was even worth saving his darker side. But if he didn't he had no way of knowing what would become of him. He pulled him up, putting the angry copy's arm over his own shoulders._

"_Put me down fucker," Ashi-Naruto tiredly spat. He moved his feet, accepting the help he was given. The two of them dodged falling concrete as they walked down the twisting hallways._

_Zen-Naruto kept his eyes glued to the ceiling. He gasped when he saw a giant piece of the ceiling dislodge just above their heads._

* * *

**Author's Note****: So, the re-write. Hope it was better.**

**Again I have attempted a cliff hanger, it sucks I know but hey, I'm trying. So, Kyuubi's out. Constructive criticism is welcome.**

**REVIEW!!**

**-Wicka**


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